Hospital reforms must not be done hastily

MAJOR HOSPITALS in South China's Guangdong province are being encouraged to cancel their outpatient services step by step, according to a plan recently issued by the provincial government aimed at streamlining medical treatment in the province. Such a reform should only proceed when there are more community hospitals, Beijing News said on Thursday.

In general, Guangdong's determination to streamline the functions of all hospitals in the province is in line with nationwide healthcare modernization, which aims to help more patients get properly treated.

In fact, many Chinese citizens' limited access to the quality medical services offered by the leading hospitals has a lot to do with the inefficient use of community hospitals. In other words, the obsession with big hospitals would not have existed if they could receive basic community medical services in time.