Official: Reforms won't hit patients

Patients will not face higher medical expenses after hospitals adjust their service charges this year in line with a major reform plan, a top health official said on Friday.

"We will ensure that the adjustment of medical service prices will not impose a burden on people through measures such as increasing medical insurance payments for bills," said Sun Zhigang, vice-minister in charge of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

All county-level public hospitals, which cover more than 900 million people, will stop the practice of selling drugs at prices up to 15 percent higher than they pay to buy them from pharmaceutical companies, according to a guideline issued by the State Council this month.