China's health authorities attach great importance to the improvement of patients' experiences while receiving medical attention, a health official said Tuesday.
The country's grassroots-level medical institutions handled 52 percent of total diagnoses and treatments across the country last year, indicating a growing public preference for local healthcare services.
The National Health Commission held a press conference on Tuesday to brief the media on the development of the country's public healthcare service sector. Official data suggests in 2023, China's national health literacy rate reached 29.7 percent, almost at the 30 percent target set by the "Healthy China Initiative" for 2030.
In a push for high-quality hospitals, China has established over 200 national and provincial medical centers, drastically reducing the need for cross-provincial treatments.
The National Health Commission has continued optimizing the patient experience. The "one-stop" service centers are available in more than 5,500 secondary and higher-level general hospitals, with nearly 80 percent of discharged patients able to check out within the day.
"We will continue to simplify the process and innovate patterns, and avoid or reduce patients' traveling back and forth through setting up one-stop service centers and promoting the 'pay once for one visit' pattern. And by improving the multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment system and opening new outpatient clinics such as anesthesia, pain, and health management, we can meet the diverse demands of patients," said Xing Ruoqi, deputy head of the medical administration department of the NHC.
Moreover, the NHC launched a program last year to improve the care and nursing services to better cater for the patients and clinical needs, according to Xing.
To date, more than 3,000 medical institutions have made relevant services available at the patients' homes, Xing said, adding that regions like Beijing, Shandong and Jiangsu also carried out reforms and engaged more resources from the society to provide nursing services for the elderly people. "We will promote measures to facilitate and benefit the people, such as medical service pre-registration, multi-disciplinary diagnosis, day surgery, and the mutual recognition of examination and test results. We will build a mechanism for dynamic price adjustment of medical services, and will reform medical insurance payment methods in over 90 percent of pooling districts," said Zhu Hongbiao, first-level inspector of the Department of Physical Education Reform of the NHC.
At the same time, 81 cities across the nation have launched pilot programs to unite urban hospitals under one coordinated system, and county-level authorities have pushed forward reforms to link local medical facilities together to offer consistent healthcare services for residents.
For the elderly and special groups, more than 3,000 medical institutions across China have been exploring the Internet plus nursing services scheme, which aims to bring professional nursing service to communities and families.
China improves medical service system for patients' better experience
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi made a hard landing in Iran's northwestern province of East Azerbaijan on Sunday, state-run IRIB TV reported.
Raisi’s helicopter was part of a convoy of three helicopters which was on its way from Khoda Afarin County, where Raisi had attended the inauguration ceremony of a storage dam along with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, to the provincial capital Tabriz where Raisi was scheduled to attend the inauguration of a petrochemical complex, according to the report.
"On May 19 local time, the helicopter carrying Iranian President Raisi made a hard landing in East Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran. According to our investigation in Iran, the incident took place near the Varzaghan area of East Azerbaijan. From the live broadcast on Iranian national television, we can see that the entire area of the accident site is in a state of severe foggy weather, which caused great trouble to the search and rescue work. In addition to Iranian President Raisi, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the governor of East Azerbaijan Province, and other officials and entourage were also on the helicopter," said Li Jiannan, a CCTV reporter in Iran.
Speaking to IRIB TV, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi attributed the helicopter's rough landing to the unfavorable weather conditions, which he said also impacted search and rescue work.
The head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society Pirhossein Kolivand told IRIB TV that 40 rapid reaction teams had rushed to the scene and were monitoring the region while noting that there were difficulties in reaching the scene by land or by air due to the mountainous terrain and the bad weather conditions.
Kolivand, however, said drones were being used to search the region.
Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Mohammad Baqeri has ordered the army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the police to make all-out efforts to search for and rescue the president and his accompanying team, said the Iran Newspaper.
Speaking to IRIB TV, Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi said medical teams had been stationed near the possible crash site.
Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi said in a post on social media platform X that Vice President Mohsen Mansouri and several cabinet members were on their way to Tabriz after a meeting in Tehran.
Following the incident, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei expressed his hope that President Raisi and accompanying officials would be able to return home safely, saying that everyone should pray for them. Iranian people do not need to worry, and the work of the country and the government will not be affected, he said.
Following reports of the incident, leaders of neighboring countries, including Azerbaijan and Iraq, expressed concern over the developments and said they were ready to assist in search and rescue efforts.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on the same day, saying that Türkiye is following the incident and hopes that Iranian President Raisi, Foreign Minister Abdollahian and other Iranian officials are safe and healthy. Türkiye has taken action to provide support for the search and rescue operation, the statement said.
Iranian president's helicopter makes hard landing in NW province
