New healthcare reform plan criticized as 'too hard' to understand

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-16 23:08

BEIJING - China's policy makers may not have anticipated the strong feedback they have received from the public on the new healthcare reform plan was to make it legible.

"It's too hard to understand. What is it about?" an anonymous netizen wrote on sina.com, commenting on the 13,000-word document, which opened to public debate on Tuesday.

"The plan should be comprehensible to the general public. Do you think farmers, who are in great need of medical help, could understand it and propose any suggestions?" Liu Zheng wrote on the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) website.

Such opinions were shared by many, including scholars and health professionals.

Peking University Professor Liu Guoen described the plan as a "Baguwen," or the eight-part essay prescribed for the Imperial civil service examinations of long ago, known for its rigidity of form and paucity of ideas.

Criticizing the plan as being ambiguous, the academic said by trying to address each and every aspect of the healthcare system, the plan had no focus and looked too complicated.

Liu said the plan's creators failed to explain professional items and ideas in simple words. "If they intend to solicit public opinion, they should at least change the writing style."

State media, which seldom openly criticizes government, also joined the reprehension.

Bai Yansong, a renowned TV host with state broadcaster CCTV, said the plan was full of "empty" and "obscure" words.

"I believe many people will have nothing to say about the reform, because they don't know what it is," he said in a program on Wednesday. "It's all written in Chinese, but you just cannot understand it."

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