Responding to a media report about Chinese medical reform, spokesman of the Ministry of Health Mao Qun'an said yesterday that the detailed reform scheme had not come out yet.

Earlier, a report said that officials from 11 central government departments had set up a team responsible for the medical reform. It also said that the detailed reform scheme would come out at the end of the year or early next year, and that the team preferred the "British mode" in which the government would shoulder the main responsibility for public health and basic medical treatment for its citizens.

In response to this report, Mao said that the State Development and Reform Commissiion would lead the reform and the Ministry of Health, as the main governing body, would cooperate with departments at various levels to help publicize the reform scheme as early as possible.

He stressed that the medical scheme would not be a copy of any of other countries. Instead, China would look for a way that suits its national conditions.

Medical reform has once again become a heated topic in society after the country has carried out the opening-up policy for 28 years. However, officials have not reached an agreement as to how the reform should be processed.

"The reform will affect many departments in the medical industry, including the medical health department, pharmaceutical department, financial department, and social medical health department, etc, which will all make related changes as a result of the reform. More importantly, since the reform is closely related with people's life and health, we should act with much caution. China can learn something from the European mode or the American mode in their medical reform. However, our public medical institution will not copy these modes in their entirety," said Chang Xiuze, a professor from the State Development and Reform Commission.
 
Editor: Yan