China Community Health Association, an organization to beef up the country's community clinics and assist the development of the community health service, was set up in Beijing on Tuesday.

Vice Premier Wu Yi wrote to the inauguration ceremony that the community health service, an important step to grant everyone the basic health care, has made it easier for people to see doctors and alleviated pressure from the country's shortage of hospital service resources.

"The community heath service, with a focus on the combination of disease prevention and treatment, enjoy great popularity among the public due to its efficiency and low charges," Wu said.

She noted that the association is to enhance the quality of the health service, which covers about 98 percent of Chinese cities, with 260,000 health workers serving in more than 23,000 community hospitals across the country.

Health Minister Chen Zhu said community health service in China is still leagued by inadequate finance, shortage of manpower and poor infrastructure.

Chen, a Paris-trained scientist and a member of the China Zhi Gong (Public Interest) Party, received his new appointment last month from the post of vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a government think-tank.

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2007)