4.8b yuan injection

The central government is pumping 4.8 billion yuan ($698 million) into rural healthcare this year, the Ministry of Health said late last month.

The funds, part of the latest 100 billion yuan economic stimulus package, will mainly be used to build and renovate rural hospitals and clinics, as well as buy basic medical equipment, the ministry said in a statement.

Hospitals and clinics at and under the county levels, and grassroots medical institutions serving farms, forested areas and remote islands, stand to benefit from the latest funds.