CRI听力：China Unveils Action Plan for Universal Access to Basic Health Care

Zheng Chenguang has more:
The blueprint from the State Council, or Cabinet, details tasks and goals relating to health care reform for the period from 2009 to 2011. (www.hxen.net)

The government has promised an investment plan of 850 billion yuan, nearly 120 billion U.S dollars, for the reforms.

Besides speeding up the construction of medical services, China will also train more medical professionals to meet rising health care needs.

Chen Zhu is China's Health Minister.

"We should give priority to improving primary health care facilities especially in rural areas and communities. So we will enhance grassroots level training at hospitals. We will also encourage more medical personnel to head for villages and provide better medial services to the locals."

Under the action plan, China will build 2,000 county hospitals and 5,000 township clinics in the next three years to extend medical services and make them more affordable.

The Health Minister also says hospitals will improve their information record systems to provide better and more efficient services.

"We will utilise the latest technology to provide electronic medical records for each patient. We will also establish an information platform, through which hospitals of the same level can share patients' medical records. This way, we can save medical resources and avoid overlapping tests."

According to the action plan, the health care insurance subsidy offered by the government for each unemployed urban resident and rural farmer will rise by 50 percent to 120 yuan as of next year.

Zheng Chenguang, CRI news.