Press conference on guiding principles of the 4th plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee

Beijing Radio and Television Station:

We all know that many families today are supporting both elderly parents and young children. They often need to seek medical care and host relatives and friends from their hometowns who come for medical treatment. People hope that after falling ill, they can receive timely and high-quality medical care close to home, within their city or province, and minimize the need to travel between hospitals. What new measures can we expect in this regard during the 15th Five-Year Plan period? Thank you.

Mo Gaoyi:

Mr. Lei will answer this question.

Lei Haichao:

Thank you for raising a question that concerns everyone. This will also be a main focus of our work to improve and make progress over the next five years. I would like to share our recent research findings on the health development plan for the next five years. Drawing on international trends, our foundational work, and China's comprehensive national strength, we aim to raise the country's average life expectancy by one year, from 79 years in 2024 to about 80 years. We hope to achieve this through five years of dedicated effort. This will be a landmark achievement in meeting people's growing expectations for a healthy and better life, and it will highlight the comprehensive results of China's high-quality development across all areas of the economy and society. Our analysis shows that this goal is completely attainable. To achieve this, we need to make further efforts and improvements in the following areas.

First, we will fully shift the focus of our services to a health-centered approach, working to ensure better public health and reduce the incidence of disease. We advocate, and have accordingly made arrangements, for governments at all levels, as well as society and individuals, to implement the concept of "prevention first." Prioritizing health must become a central goal of economic and social development. This includes strengthening health promotion-oriented interdepartmental coordination and efficient service supervision, vigorously carrying out the Healthy China initiative and patriotic health campaigns, actively developing family doctor services, and enhancing health education and outreach. By gradually improving public health literacy, we aim to bring health science and popular science knowledge into every household, empowering everyone to become an active participant in and manager of their own health. We need to manage health risk factors so that issues affecting physical and mental health, such as weight, blood pressure, blood lipids and blood sugar, can be effectively addressed and controlled, enabling everyone to enjoy a healthier, higher-quality life.

Second, in terms of service models, we need to emphasize seamless integration across the entire continuum of care, helping people reduce the incidence of severe illnesses and recover more quickly. We will focus on tackling and making breakthroughs in chronic diseases such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes. We aim to strengthen the service system for early screening, diagnosis, treatment and recovery; reinforce integrated prevention and treatment of multiple diseases; and further improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of health outcomes. Moving forward, we will place greater emphasis on targeted prevention, multidisciplinary collaboration in treatment, continuity of care throughout rehabilitation, and long-term follow-up in health management. This approach will ensure that every link in the chain of care is truly connected, active, and reinforced for better health outcomes. At the same time, to meet the public's desire for quality and science-based medical care, we will further improve and redesign service processes. We will build platforms for consultation and referral within and between different hospitals, ensuring that professional matters are handled by specialized institutions and personnel. This will help patients access medical care in a more scientific, standardized, orderly and convenient manner.

Third, the service system will place a strong emphasis on public welfare and balance access, making medical treatment more convenient and efficient for the public. We will promote the coordinated development and governance of health care, medical insurance and pharmaceuticals, and deepen public hospital reforms with an emphasis on public welfare. The Sanming health care reform model from Fujian province will be comprehensively rolled out across all prefecture-level cities. Sanming has continuously achieved significant results in ensuring and promoting health and deepening reform, thanks to four key experiences: First, it adheres to the leadership of the CPC, public welfare, and a people-centered approach in reform concepts. Second, it maintains a reform style that does not shy away from difficulties and is enterprising. Third, it advances reform according to local conditions while continuously iterating and upgrading. Fourth, it employs a reform approach that closely aligns with local economic and social development conditions and levels, providing appropriate services and guarantees for the public, and ensuring sustainability. All parties should carefully study and promote these four experiences to deepen medical and health system reform over the next five years. At the same time, we will further strengthen the functional positioning and coordinated cooperation of primary, secondary and tertiary medical institutions and grassroots medical and health facilities. This includes stabilizing secondary hospital operations and implementing projects to fortify the foundations of medical and health care. Our priority is to deploy personnel and services at the grassroots level while building stronger support and collaborative networks among medical institutions at all levels. We will promote and implement mobile medical services and telemedicine, aiming to bring convenient, efficient and relatively high-quality medical and health services closer to people's homes. These efforts will achieve more significant progress in advancing the tiered health care system.

Thank you.