Hospital visits point to improved China health service: Health Ministry

Hospital visits point to improved China health service: Health Ministry The number of visits to China's hospitals in the first quarter rose by 8.1 percent year on year, indicating increased affordability and accessibility of health services, a Health Ministry official said Friday.

Zhou Jun, the ministry's head of health service supervision, said at a press conference that health facilities received 1.26 billion visits in the first quarter.

Zhou said the rising number of hospital visits showed more people were seeking professional medical care when feeling ill.

Zhou attributed the rise to the expanded coverage of health insurance, better medical services and more grass-roots facilities.

"Previously, some people would not see doctors when feeling ill due to economic concerns, but now more people will because of health insurance coverage and higher reimbursement rates," he said.

According to the ministry, in April alone, 10,904 new medical facilities were established, most of which were grass-root facilities, including 245 community health centers and 9,702 rural clinics.

fasz Zhou said more grass-roots health facilities would be built and staffed with qualified general practitioners.

From January to April, each doctor dealt with an average of 6.9 outpatient visits and 2.4 in-patients every day.

Zhou said compared with the same period last year, the first four months saw greater workloads for doctors, better use of ward beds and shorter inpatient stays.

Zhou said the practice of clinical paths, standardized care procedures, in pilot hospitals was crucial to reining in medical costs for patients.

"Clinical paths help regulate doctors' medical practices and prevent them from over-prescribing or conducting excessive examinations and health services," he said.

The ministry had introduced 102 clinical paths, which were being piloted in more than 100 hospitals.

Besides, Zhou said more efforts would be put into the building of health information databases so as to collect updated information on medical expenses.