China is going to establish a new urban health service system on the bases of communities in order to make medical service easier and cheaper for local residents to access, said a health official recently.

Community health service ensures basic medical service to the residents, especially the elderly, disabled people and patients with chronic diseases, the Health Ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an told a press conference.

So far, China has set up community medical service centers in 95 percent of its prefecture-level cities and 86 percent of districts under municipalities and county-level cities. More than 3,400 community medical service centers and nearly 12,000 community clinics have been established, said Mao.

However, the current community health service is still insufficient to meet people's demand, the spokesman noted.

The State Council on Wednesday decided to ensure comprehensive community health service in all major Chinese cities by 2010.   A work team will be set up by the State Council to lead the reform of the community health system. Mao said the Ministry of Health will work out a guideline and relevant regulations in line with the goal set by the State Council, and train more doctors for community clinics. He also urged social insurance departments to enroll qualified community clinics into medical insurance system, so that more people could access community health service instead of cramming into large hospitals.

In a separate development, the Ministry of Health announced in February that China's community medical service has seen fruitful results.

    "So far, China has set up community medical service centers in 95 percent of its prefecture-level cities and 86 percent of districts under municipalities and county-level cities," Mao Qun'an, the ministry's spokesman told Friday's news conference.

    More than 3,400 community medical service centers and nearly 12,000 community hygiene stations have been established so far, according to Mao.

(Source: Xinhua)