Farmers have always had lower quality medical services than people in the city, so now the Ministry of Health intends to fix the imbalance.

But whatever form comprehensive reform of the country's medical system ultimately takes, state-owned hospitals will not be opened to market competition, a top official in the ministry told China Daily on Friday.

Instead, the ministry plans to send tens of thousands of sophisticated medical practitioners from premium hospitals nationwide to local clinics as part of a one-year program designed for personnel training and service improvement.

They have been instructed to alleviate difficulties rural residents have in accessing and affording medical services and to help diagnose common diseases.

Each hospital could get 24,000 yuan (US$2,900) from the Ministry of Finance for each doctor sent to work in rural areas on top of any subsidies the provinces already provide.

"The hygienic conditions in rural areas and the health of farmers have been a major cause of concern for us," Health Minister Gao Qiang said yesterday in Beijing as he addressed a ceremony attended by health professionals who each signed a responsibility pledge for the program.

Aside from medical equipment and facilities, professional medical personnel are also urgently needed in villages.

Sun Dongdong, a professor at Peking University's Law School, cited one example.

"Patients in Pinggu and Huairou, two suburban counties of Beijing, have a hard time getting access to proper treatment, though they are quite near the capital, which has the most high-level hospitals in the country," Sun said.

During the ceremony, which attracted about three dozen leaders of provincial health departments, Gao urged the program to be carried out on a regular basis.

"Premium hospitals in cities and medical institutions at and below the county level should establish a fixed cooperative relation," Gao said, adding that by-then-experienced physicians could offer regular and long-term assistance.

Also yesterday, Vice-Minister of Health Ma Xiaowei told China Daily: "The ministry has never thought of transferring the ownership of hospitals, and it will definitely not be a key issue in a comprehensive medical system reform."

Sun, who's also an expert appointed to the ministry's committee formed to discuss possible changes, said reform has not even reached the draft stage yet.

In the meantime, teams in 10 provinces and autonomous regions, including Beijing and south China's Guangdong Province, are examining actions taken by local governments to fight illegal medical practices.

"Since April 21, a nationwide action team in charge of striking at illegal medical practices has received about 180 reports of quack doctors, 160 of medical institution departments' illegally renting to individuals, and a few cases of misidentifying the sex of fetuses," the ministry's statement said yesterday.

Local governments had been told to take firm action based on the reports, and supervision teams are supposed to report the outcome of the crackdown early next month. "Standardizing medical practices will protect public health and help maintain public order," Zheng Bixian, a Jiangsu Provincial Health Bureau official, said.

(China Daily June 25, 2005)