China's 2021 Two Sessions: What Can We Expect for the Medical and Health Sectors?

by Yinpeng Feng Mar 15, 2021
www.xinhuanet.com

On March 4th, 2021, Chinese political leaders and legislators gathered in Beijing for the country's most important annual meeting—the Two Sessions (meetings of two of China's major political bodies—the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People's Congress (NPC)). It revealed the central government's objectives and priorities for the coming year. This year's Two Sessions are of great significance because 2021 is the start of China's 14th Five-Year Plan (each Five-Year Plan would disclose the agendas for economic and social developments for the next five years).

Highlights in Medical and Health Sectors

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pointed out nine major objectives for the medical and health sectors in 20211 in the Government Work Report on March 5th:

1. Advance the development of health care system.

2. Continuously promote the Healthy China Initiative. Carry out patriotic, health-related campaigns. Deepen the reform of disease prevention and control system. Create an innovative and cooperative mechanism between medical and disease control institutions. Improve the systems of public health emergency response and material support. Establish a stable investment mechanism for public health.

3. Deepen the comprehensive reform of public hospitals. Increase the number of experimental sites of national and regional medical centers. Strengthen the development of general medical practitioners and country doctors. Improve medical service at the county level. Accelerate the establishment of a hierarchical diagnosis and treatment system.

4. Attach equal importance to Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine. Carry out the project that vitalizes the development of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

5. Support the development of private medical institutions. Promote the standardized integration of internet technologies with health care.

6. Strengthen the regulatory supervision of food, drug, and vaccine.

7. Facilitate the medical appointment system and other services for the convenience of people. Ensure that patients with serious and troublesome diseases could receive an early diagnosis and treatment.

8. Government subsidies for basic medical insurance for rural and non-working urban residents will increase by 30 yuan per person, and subsidies for public health services will increase by 5 yuan per person. Promote the overall planning of basic medical insurance at the provincial level. Realize the inter-province reimbursement of outpatient costs.

9. Establish a complete mechanism of mutual aid outpatient treatment system. Gradually cover the outpatient costs by the pooling fund of basic medical insurance. Further ensure the supply of drugs in shortage and stabilize the price of drugs in short supply. Further reduce the burden of patients by methods like including more chronic and common disease drugs and high-value medical consumables into centralized procurement.


Yinpeng Feng
ChemLinked Regulatory Analyst
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