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Ensure basic healthcare

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-22 07:40

People who cannot afford healthcare should not have to write letters to officials in order to secure the right to treatment, says an article in Yangtze Daily. The following is an excerpt:

Liu Qingsan, a seriously ill farmer in Hainan province, would never have believed that a letter to a mayor could get her the money needed for her medical treatment. After helping her collect 10,000 yuan, which fell short of the medical fees she needed to pay, Liu's neighbors tried writing to Xu Tangxian, mayor of Haikou, capital of the island province. Xu was so moved by the letter that he requested government departments to take care of Liu's fees.

Although it was definitely a stroke of luck for Liu and her family, the fact remains that a great many people like Liu still cannot afford medical treatment. Their stories may not be that touching and therefore cannot attract media attention, nor will they think of writing a letter to the mayor for help. So what is to become of them?

The nature of medical treatment is twofold: it is a right and a commodity. Everyone has the fundamental right to basic healthcare, emergency rescue and medical treatment during public health crises. Beyond that, healthcare becomes a commodity that offers multi-level services in line with different prices.

The government should be responsible for basic medical treatment, and pay the medical fees of those who cannot afford them. But it has no duty to cover the fees beyond basic healthcare for things like weight-loss, plastic surgery and high-end hospital wards. What we fundamentally need is to quicken the pace of developing a basic medical treatment network that covers everyone in China.

(China Daily 09/22/2008 page4)