China will ensure and improve the people's wellbeing in the course of further deepening reform of the medicine and healthcare systems, said a senior official with the National Health Commission.
Ensuring the people's health should be a strategic priority, according to a resolution adopted at the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in Beijing on July 15-18.
At an interview with China Central Television (CCTV), Lei Haichao, director of National Health Commission, emphasized that the primary task of deepening the reform of the medicine and healthcare systems is to anchor the goals of the Healthy China initiative by 2035. This involves establishing and improving the planning, investment, and governance policies and regulatory systems for prioritizing health development and promoting the integration of health into all policies.
By 2035, a medical and health service system that is in line with the efforts to basically realize socialist modernization and is complete, efficient, and resilient should be set up. Equal access, accessibility, and service capabilities will markedly strengthen, and the people's health will significantly improve, the initiative required.
"We are now facing the threat of both communicable and chronic non-communicable diseases, so we call for early diagnosis and treatment and seek to attract more social institutions and individuals to participate in patriotic health campaigns and health promotion," Lei said.
Nowadays, China has built the world's largest healthcare system. However, the unbalanced and inadequate development of the healthcare system still needs to be addressed through reforms.
China has a three-tier system to grade hospitals, with tertiary hospitals - which have the largest number of beds and provide comprehensive medical services - at the top of the system.
For the majority of people, public hospitals remain the first choice for medical treatment. The quality of service of public hospitals is directly related to the health of the people.
The resolution said that China will continue to expand the availability of quality medical resources, channel them toward the community level, and make sure they were better distributed among regions. The country will move faster to develop the tiered diagnosis and treatment system and propel the development of tightly knit medical consortia.
"It is necessary to further address some of the imbalances and inadequacies in health development, resolve the emerging needs and changes in medical treatment and health care, and better support the balanced development of health in the central and western regions. We are working to enhance the overall capacity of the healthcare system in a comprehensive manner. Our plan is to have higher-level healthcare institutions assist lower-level ones. Additionally, we are promoting the construction of healthcare groups and integrated healthcare systems to improve the continuity of medical services," Lei said.
China to further reform medical, healthcare systems, enhance public medical services: official
A survey released by CGTN to global netizens shows that respondents strongly condemn the U.S.'s unilateral bullying of other countries under the pretext of "reciprocal tariffs," saying that this move may trigger countermeasures from other countries and eventually evolve into a "tariff world war," seriously impacting the world economy.
The U.S. claims that it has suffered losses in international trade and is raising tariffs on all trading partners under the pretext of "reciprocity," aiming to reduce the trade deficit. However, 81.03 percent of global respondents do not agree with this, believing that such measures will not achieve the expected results. During his first term in office, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on major trading partners. According to statistics from the American Action Forum, a think tank, Trump's protectionist policies during the first term cost U.S. consumers about 57 billion U.S. dollars annually. According to the survey, 81.94 percent of respondents believe that "reciprocal tariffs" cannot solve U.S.'s own problems but will only harm the interests of U.S. consumers and drag down the U.S. economic growth.
The competitiveness of products from different countries varies. Each country can set appropriate tariffs based on its own products to achieve "mutual benefit" in the international market. The "tariff farce" of the U.S. side is a selective disregard for the balance of interests reached through multilateral trade negotiations. Some 82.8 percent of the respondents point out that in the context of unequal economic development and economic strength of different countries, the U.S. insistence on full and complete reciprocity in tariffs is extremely irrational.
The majority of the U.S. tariffs this time are targeted at developing countries. Regarding this, 82.96 percent of the respondents condemn the U.S. for conducting "indiscriminate attacks" on other countries on the issue of tariffs, believing that this is a deprivation of the development rights of other countries, especially developing countries. According to the survey, 84.43 percent of the respondents believe that the U.S.'s imposition of "reciprocal tariffs" will exacerbate the problem of trade unfairness with its trading partners and traditional allies, seriously damaging the country's credibility.
As a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the U.S. has unilaterally and subjectively introduced so-called "reciprocal tariffs" and insisted on implementing them. This is a typical act of unilateral bullying. In response, 79.47 percent of the respondents criticize the U.S. for seriously violating the rules of the WTO. In the survey, 79.58 percent of the respondents say that "reciprocal tariffs" have become a new tool for the U.S. to promote trade protectionism, which will further intensify international trade tensions and global economic fragmentation.
This survey was released on CGTN's English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian platforms. Within 24 hours, a total of 9,600 overseas netizens participated in the survey and expressed their views.
CGTN poll: US 'reciprocal tariffs' draw condemnation from world
