BEIJING -- Beijing established a new medical authority on Thursday as part of an ongoing project to change the way the nation's public hospitals operate.

The creation of the Beijing Hospital Management Bureau will help the country to reform its public hospitals and create a modernized hospital management system, Health Minister Chen Zhu said at the bureau's opening ceremony.

The bureau will be in charge of asset management and supervision, management recruitment and training and operational reforms for the city's 22 major public hospitals, according to Mao Yu, deputy chief of the bureau.

The bureau will be led by Fang Laiying, who is also chief of the Health Bureau of Beijing Municipality.

Beijing has been approved to be the 17th city to test government-run hospital reform programs, according to the Ministry of Health. The reform programs are aimed to ease the public's concern over rising medical costs.

The 17 cities are required to establish a reasonable, effective and optimized medical service system and to encourage medical workers to provide the public with safe, effective, convenient and affordable medical services.

The Chinese government unveiled a 850-billion-yuan ($127.7 billion) three-year plan for health care reform in 2009. The plan aims to provide universal and affordable medical services to the country's 1.3 billion people.

Public hospital reform projects will include favorable policies for public hospitals in the areas of city planning, medical staff training and funding.