Earlier this year, when Li Cheng's brother experienced difficulty breathing and partial paralysis, his first instinct was to rush him to Beijing, 100 km away, for treatment.
However, a doctor from the prestigious Peking University People's Hospital (PUPH) successfully performed the surgery for his brother at a hospital in their home county of Huailai, north China's Hebei Province.
"I'd never imagined such surgery right at our doorstep and so quickly," said Li. He credited this positive experience to China's recent efforts to balance medical resources across different regions.
People like Li can expect improved care moving forward, as the governing Communist Party of China (CPC) has affirmed this trend in a reform resolution adopted last week at the third plenary session of its central committee.
"We will do more to increase the availability of quality medical resources and see that such resources are channeled toward the community level and more evenly distributed," read the document. The reform tasks laid out in the resolution are to be completed by the time the People's Republic of China celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2029.
TACKLE CHALLENGE
Delivering quality medical services at the doorsteps of a population of over a billion would be a daunting challenge for any country. China has long grappled with the disparity in medical resources between urban and rural areas.
Procedures like removing a fish bone from a child's throat or stitching a forehead wound in Hebei were once referred to hospitals in Beijing. This has heightened the financial and physical burden on patients while also straining top-tier hospitals.
In 2021, China accelerated the efforts to tackle this issue by empowering grassroots medical providers.
Notable progress has already been made, as seen in the county hospital where Li's brother underwent vital surgery. Over the past two years, this hospital has enlisted more than 130 specialists from the PUPH, including Zhou Jingru, a neurosurgeon who operated on Li's brother during his weekly practice there.
It has also established a modern ICU and introduced 76 new medical projects and technologies, including arthroscopic surgery and complete mesocolic excision for colon cancer treatment.
This assistance model is being implemented across China. Over 1,000 top-tier hospitals like the PUPH have partnered with nearly 1,500 county hospitals in 940 counties, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).
An assessment made in 2023 covering 98 percent of counties nationwide shows that nearly 1,900 hospitals out of 2,062 county hospitals now boast service capacities equivalent to secondary hospitals.
"We will move faster to develop the tiered diagnosis and treatment system, propel the development of tightly-knit medical consortia," said the CPC said in the reform resolution.
DIGITAL EMPOWERMENT
China is also leveraging its digital expertise to help extend quality medical services to villages and communities. In Dongtai, a county-level city in east China's Jiangsu Province, CT images of patients can be transmitted from a township health center to hospitals in the county seat within seconds. Shortly thereafter, a diagnosis report is sent back.
"It is basically the same as taking CT scans at hospitals in the city," said a CT technician surnamed Zhang.
Blood samples collected by rural health centers can also be swiftly transported to hospitals of higher levels for testing if necessary. In the city of Dongtai, transport routes of the samples are displayed in real-time on a screen at the county hospital. "Eighty percent of the results can be sent back within the day," said Zhang.
With the help of information technology, the county has successfully knitted a network comprised of two leading hospitals, six regional medical centers in the countryside, 18 township health centers, and 34 village clinics.
This has integrated city and township services, standardized testing, and transitioned medical providers from operating independently to sharing resources as one, said Cui Hai, health chief of the county.
Across Jiangsu Province, there are 157 such communities of medical providers. As a result, 93.9 percent of medical consultations by county residents now take place within their own counties.
Despite its progress in building a tiered diagnosis and treatment system, there remains a significant gap in meeting the bar set by the CPC and the people. The next five years are considered crucial for this endeavor.
In its latest reform resolution, the CPC has vowed to upgrade the services of community-level medical and healthcare institutions, which include township health centers, village clinics, and community health centers. According to the NHC, these providers typically handle over half of the country's diagnoses and medical treatments.
This resolution is particularly welcomed in Zunyi, a hilly city in southwest China's Guizhou Province, where the challenging terrain makes it difficult to ensure medical services in rural areas.
So far, the counties in the city have built 52 regional medical centers at township health centers, connecting county hospitals with the grassroots medical and healthcare providers.
In the past, gallbladder surgery could only be performed at county hospitals. However, minimally invasive procedures are now being carried out at facilities such as the health center of Wenshui Township in Xishui County, according to Ming Yan, vice mayor of Zunyi.
Township health centers of the city plan to set up 100 branches in larger villages, with 78 already completed, allowing more residents to access quality medical services close to home.
"The results have been significant," said Ming.