Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan, also head of the State Council leading group on medical reform, urged deepening healthcare reform in the new era when she inspected East China’s Fujian province and attended medical reform promotion meeting on Aug 21-23.

Sanming city, Fujian province, has made effective progress in promoting the integration of medical care, medical insurance and medicine, establishing new payment distribution system, and optimizing medical services through adjusting medicine catalogue and bringing down the price of medicine and medical equipment, the vice-premier said, adding its experience should be promoted to other areas.

Salary system should be further optimized to improve the treatment of medical staff members, and more regional medical centers and medical consortiums should be established to optimize the distribution of medical resources, Sun added.

She also said that governments should regulate medical behaviors in public medical institutions and promote reasonable drug application to improve the quality of medical services.

Efforts should be made to expand the pool of general practitioners and rural doctors to consolidate the foundation of primary medical care, she added.

Idea of medical care and healthcare should change from treating diseases to preventing, Sun said.

Working mechanism of medical care system should be improved and medical innovation should be encouraged, Sun added.