Plan for hospitals near most residential areas

SHANGHAI: City residents will soon enjoy better health services in Shanghai under a plan that will also ensure that a competent medical facility is within 15 minutes of most residential areas.

The city will build additional high-level hospitals with outstanding medical experts and advanced facilities, especially in suburban areas, Xu Jianguang, head of the Shanghai health bureau, said during an online forum yesterday.

Xu added many first-level hospitals handle 6,000 to 7,000 outpatient cases a day and sometimes it reaches 10,000. He also said "about 70 to 80 percent of them are diagnosed with common or frequently-occurring diseases".