Beijing Youth Daily:

China's medical and health service has witnessed progress in recent years, and public hospitals are playing a major role in offering such services. Going forward, what measures will be adopted to promote the high-quality development of public hospitals? Thank you.

Lei Haichao:

Thank you for your question. The reform and high-quality development of public hospitals directly affect people's access to medical care services and their sense of gain as well.

Statistics show that approximately 5.11 billion medical visits were made to health institutions nationwide from January to September of this year. Specifically, there were 1.59 billion visits in the first quarter, 1.75 billion in the second quarter, and 1.77 billion in the third quarter. The data from the first three quarters show an increasing trend in the number of medical visits. The total number of medical visits made throughout the first three quarters increased by 12.4% compared with the same period in 2019, and it also experienced a 6% increase compared with the same period last year.

Regarding inpatient care services, some 220 million patients were discharged from medical and health institutions in the first three quarters of this year. Some 70 million patients were discharged from hospitals in the first quarter, while the number was 80 million in the second quarter. In the third quarter, some 70 million patients were discharged from hospitals. The number of discharges in the first three quarters increased by 16.7% compared with the same period in 2019, while it witnessed an increase of 18.9% from the same period in 2022. 

The bed utilization rate in hospitals nationwide reached 80.2% in the first nine months of this year, marking an increase of 6.4 percentage points compared with the same period in 2022. The bed utilization rate at medical service centers reached 51.4%, which represents an increase of 7.6 percentage points from last year. Meanwhile, the rate at township-based health institutions was 54.9%, up by 4.8 percentage points compared with last year's level.

This data, when compared with the same period of last year or before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, clearly demonstrates that people's needs for medical services are being met more effectively. Additionally, medical and pharmaceutical services are being provided more efficiently. All these facts collectively reflect a strong performance at the macro level.

We will adhere to the new development philosophy and make concerted efforts to ensure reform and high-quality development.

First, we will fully implement a dean responsibility system under the leadership of the CPC Party committees and capitalize on the role of public hospitals' Party committees in controlling the direction, managing overall plans, making decisions, promoting reforms, and guaranteeing implementation. 

Second, we will further expand high-quality medical resources toward the community level and promote their balanced distribution, as well as build a resilient and high-quality medical services system with complementary functions. We will expedite the building of national and regional medical centers and promote the distribution of medical resources and priority of our work toward the community level so that people have easier access to medical care services. 

Third, we will advance the high-quality development of talents, technology, and disciplines, as well as management in public hospitals. Focusing on empowering specialist capacity, we will accelerate the transformation and utilization of medical scientific and technological innovations, promote the in-depth integration of medical services and management, and leverage information technologies to support and facilitate our efforts. By forming urban medical groups and closely connected county medical communities, as well as providing mobile medical services from tertiary and secondary hospitals and dispatching resident professionals, we will help primary-level medical and sanitary institutions improve service ability, quality, and management.

Fourth, we will work with relevant departments to deepen the price reforms of medical services, make dynamic adjustments to the prices of medical services, optimize medical institutions' balance of payments, and coordinate reforms regarding modes of payments, human resources, and remuneration systems. We will intensify performance assessments and comprehensive supervision to promote the high-quality development of medical institutions, especially public hospitals, in a bid to provide better services to our people. Thank you.