Good public health is national wealth

It's the second time Wang Fangwei is in a hospital seeking treatment for his stomachache. And the 28-year-old Beijing-based clerk is desperate to see a doctor.

His turn comes after a two-and-half-hour wait because the doctor had to attend to 20 other patients before him. But Wang still feels lucky. There's a reason for that. The day before a doctor had asked him to come early the next day because he had too tight a schedule to attend to him.

"Such instances are not rare in hospitals, especially large ones, these days," says Wang. "An illness is a big pain in itself, but waiting in a queue to see a doctor and footing the medical bill is a much, much bigger pain."