Chinese Medicine Net

BEIJING, Jan. 13 — Liu Guosheng, a 38-year-old migrant worker in Wuhan in Central China’s Hubei Province, was diagnosed with tuberculosis in a free health examination last month. That was the first health examination he had had in the past 20 years.

ÿ  ÿ  Liu said that he had been feeling unwell for a long time but had decided that his slender income would be better spent on his two children’s education rather than his going to hospital.

ÿ  ÿ  A government-initiated public health campaign started last November and has provided free health checks for 14,000 might workers in Wuhan. The results are dismal.

ÿ  ÿ  It was found that 20.3 percent of those examined have hepatitis B, a contagious liver disease; 8 percent, fatty liver; and, 10 percent, cardiovascular diseases.

ÿ  ÿ  Female migrant workers were worse off - up to 67 percent of them were suffering from one kind of genital infection or another.

ÿ ÿ ÿ  Few of those diagnosed had ever gone to see a doctor before to receive proper treatment.

ÿ  ÿ  In most cases, they first wait for the symptoms to go away by themselves. If this wait-and-see method does not work out, they go to a pharmacy and buy medicines based on their own judgment of their illness.

ÿ  ÿ  Some may have no choice but to seek professional help eventually and that’s where they get stripped to their shirts.

ÿ  ÿ  Remember, migrant workers are no more than just a fraction of the 60 percent of Chinese people who do not have any type of medical insurance.

ÿ  ÿ  There are farmers, laid-off workers, jobless people, to name just a few, out there on their own for fear of having to face daunting medical bills.

ÿ  ÿ  Making sure that these people can afford to see doctors is the biggest challenge in China’s healthcare reforms. Minister of Health Gao Qiang has suggested a possible solution.

ÿ  ÿ  Addressing a national health conference last Saturday, Gao put forward the idea of “low-price hospitals.” He said that each city should select a few public hospitals and convert them into low-price hospitals for low-income groups.

ÿ  ÿ  According to Gao, the hospital would return all its revenue to the government and the government would be responsible for the hospital’s budget auditing and financing.

ÿ  ÿ  This is a lovely idea indeed, but also a difficult one.

ÿ  ÿ  First of all, a clear and detailed definition of “low price” will have to be framed, otherwise it’s just another high-flying concept that will never get off the ground.

ÿ  ÿ  Secondly, selecting the hospitals will be a major problem. Many public hospitals and their medical personnel are now thriving on charging patients soaring bills and by receiving kickbacks. Becoming a low-price hospital will mean a huge financial loss, and behind-the-scenes resistance and maneuvering can be expected.

ÿ  ÿ  Thirdly, retention of staff will be another problem. With “high-price” hospitals emerging, keeping qualified personnel and services available in the few “low-price” hospitals may become extremely costly for the government.

ÿ  ÿ  Public hospitals should never be driven by profit maximizing.

ÿ  ÿ  With the aim of covering the basic healthcare needs of society, they are a safety net for ordinary people - especially low-income earners - if they become