Hospital treatment is expensive to ordinary Chinese and about
48.9 percent of them choose not to go to hospital when ill,
according to China's third survey of health care service revealed
Thursday.
The survey said 29.6 percent give up hospitalization because of
expensive medical fees.
A medical bill scandal involving treatment costs as high as 10
million yuan (US$1.23 million) for a patient in a northeast China's
Harbin hospital has been drawing attention and criticism from the
public recently.
China launched a reform of the public health care system and
expanded the decision-making power of hospitals in 1985.
However, government investment in this area has been gradually
reduced.
Since 1992, special medical services, including better nursing
and luxurious wards, have emerged as marketization increasingly
dominates health care reform in China.
Currently, of China's total medical fees, the government's input
only accounts for 15 percent and 60 percent is paid by patients
themselves, sources with the Chinese Ministry of Health said.
(Xinhua News Agency December 9, 2005)