Gansu Province restructures grassroots medical fees
Shanghai. May 12. INTERFAX-CHINA - Gansu Provincial Government issued a document on May 12 setting standard fees for grassroots medical services in the province.
According to the document, grassroots medical institutions will introduce a single fee before the end of June that will cover registration, examination and treatment. Drugs are not covered by the fee.
The document sets the general fee in township clinics at RMB 4 ($0.62) for a western medicine patient and RMB 5 ($0.77) for a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) patient. And in village clinics, the general fee is RMB 2 ($0.31) for western medicine patients and RMB 3 ($0.46) for TCM patients.
The province's medical insurance program will cover the entire fee for TCM patients in village clinics, however, but only 50 percent of the fee for western medicine patients. In township clinics, meanwhile, it will cover 80 percent of the TCM fee and only 50 percent of the western medicine fee.
Last month, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region set general fees at RMB 8 ($1.23) in township clinics and RMB 5 ($0.77) in village clinics. In both cases, RMB 1 ($0.15) will come from patients' pockets, with the remainder covered by basic medical insurance.
Earlier this year, domestic media reported that Sichuan and Hunan provinces planned to set the fee in township clinics at RMB 10 ($1.54).
- KZ