Policy Digest: Dec 9

Areas picked for pilot senior medical program

The National Health Commission has selected 15 provinces and municipalities, including Beijing, Tianjin and Shanxi and Jilin provinces to carry out a pilot program to improve medical and nursing services for seniors.

In a notice issued last month, the commission asked these areas to conduct the program for a year to accumulate experiences and practices that other parts of the country can draw on.

By 2023, these experiences and practices should be promoted all across the country to form a sound and diversified medical and nursing service system for older adults, according to the commission.

One of the tasks of the program is to increase the number of medical institutions that provide such services, as well as the number of beds.

Health authorities in the provinces and municipalities should either guide some primary and secondary hospitals to become nursing homes or encourage private enterprises to run large-scale nursing homes or nursing center chains, the commission said, adding that the authorities should also increase the number of professional nurses and carry out training courses for them.

Furthermore, authorities should support medical institutions in providing home-based medical and nursing services for seniors, the commission said.

Tertiary hospitals should focus on handling emergencies for older people, while secondary and primary hospitals should focus on providing regular medical treatment for them, the commission also said.

Energy supply critical to producing fertilizer

The National Development and Reform Commission issued a notice to local authorities as well as State-owned companies－including railway, petroleum, natural gas, electricity and coal enterprises－to guarantee the supply of coal, electricity and natural gas for chemical fertilizer production.

It's important to keep the supply and price of chemical fertilizers stable to promote the development of the country's agriculture and ensure its food security, said the notice released this month.

Coal and natural gas are key raw materials in the production of fertilizer, while electricity is also important, said the notice, adding that local authorities should take effective measures to make sure the demand for coal, electricity and natural gas is met.

They should also guide coal and fertilizer companies to sign medium-to-long-term contracts to ensure supply and strengthen supervision of the implementation of existing contracts, according to the notice.

Coal companies should also increase their supply for fertilizer companies and adhere to the supply contracts they have signed, the notice said.

Authorities should support the signings of such contracts between fertilizer and electricity companies, the notice said, adding that they must not cut electricity supply for fertilizer companies except for circumstances caused by a force majeure.

Authorities should also encourage fertilizer companies to sign supply contracts with natural gas companies, according to the notice. During the heating season, natural gas companies should fulfill their contracts and work on increasing supplies for fertilizer companies under the premise of ensuring adequate supply for the public, the notice said.

If natural gas companies need to reduce their supply for fertilizer companies during peak seasons, they should try their best to scale down the reduction and put more efforts into guaranteeing supplies for key fertilizer companies, it said.