Over 90% of village clinics in China are covered by basic medical insurance, with the government investing in upgrades and aiming to enhance grassroots healthcare by 2027 through integration and the use of artificial intelligence.
More than 90% of village clinics in China are covered by basic medical insurance, as stated by Lei Haichao, head of the National Health Commission, during a press conference. He highlighted that there are over 600,000 grassroots healthcare institutions across the country, staffed by more than 5 million health workers.
In the past two years, the Ministry of Finance has allocated around 900 million yuan (approximately $128.6 million) to upgrade medical equipment for township-level health centers, particularly in central and western regions.
Looking ahead, China aims to enhance grassroots public medical services, with plans to integrate medical resources and services at the county and township levels by 2027. The government also intends to leverage artificial intelligence to improve the capacity of these services.
Furthermore, a budget increase for medical and health services is anticipated in 2025, with the per capita government subsidy for basic public health services expected to rise by 5 yuan this year, bringing it to 99 yuan per person. This adjustment is expected to lead to further optimization of public medical services throughout the country.
