Prevention better than cure on the grasslands

After working as a doctor in Ganzi Tibet autonomous prefecture in Sichuan province for more than 40 years, Pema Yutso has plenty to say about improving medical care in the grassland areas where ethnic Tibetans live.

"The government should refocus on prevention and the control of diseases, rather than treatment," said Yutso, who is a deputy to the fourth session of the 12th National People's Congress, the country's top legislature.

"It is meaningless to talk about how many operations doctors have done on patients living in the grasslands if the source of their illness remains uncontrolled or unmanaged."