CRI听力：Chinese government should cut prices for medical treatment

An appendectomy, the surgical removal of the appendix, is a commonly performed surgery in many hospitals, but the high cost frequently causes huge post-operation stress to patients.

An article on the Shanghai-based website "Eastday" criticizes this phenomenon.

The article says that in order to create more profits, some hospitals have purposely raised the cost of trivial procedures, without any consideration for the ability of the patients to pay for it.

Wang Changwei, the author of the article, says his grand-daughter recently received an appendectomy in a hospital. The 7-day treatment cost her family 7,000 yuan, or 1,000 U.S. dollars, nearly equivalent to a worker's salary for between two to three months.

He notes that many procedures carry unnecessary extra add-ons, raising the expenses for a simple surgery.

He argues that although medical insurance will cover half of the patient's expenses, many people still feel stressed over the financial impact.(www.hxen.net)

The article suggests that hospitals be more people-oriented, and not so focused on making money.

It also urged China's Ministry of Health to increase its efforts to establish a unified standard of costs to regulate medical treatment.