Guiyang, Guian New Area enhance rural healthcare services

A health lecture by a doctor is held in Kaiyang county of Guiyang. [Photo/Tianyan news network]

Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, and Guian New Area have focused on building a high-quality and efficient primary medical and health service system. 

The city has renovated and expanded 205 village clinics, and built 10 new village clinics. It has also invested 11.50 million yuan ($1.61 million) in supporting county medical service centers in Weicheng town in Qingzhen, Zhazuo town in Xiuwen county, and Longgang town in Kaiyang county to make them capable of performing emergency first aid and referral services for critical and difficult patients.

As of early November, there were 79 township health centers in Guiyang and Guian New Area. A total of 1,320 standardized village clinics have been built in 982 administrative villages, and a rural "30-minute health service circle" has been established. The grassroots medical treatment rates in these areas have reached 65 percent, which is an increase of more than 5 percentage points when compared to the previous year.

Guiyang and Guian New Area have raised the salaries of rural doctors to ensure the stability of the rural doctor teams.

A free health diagnosis and consultation is held in rural Guiyang. [Photo/Tianyan news network]

Since January, the monthly government fixed subsidy for rural doctors has been increased to between 1,517-1,817 yuan.

A fast channel for the introduction of primary health technical talents has been established. Guiyang and Guian New Area have timely supplemented medical and health professional and technical personnel through centralized recruitment and simplified procedural recruitment. They have also encouraged higher-level medical talents to serve in primary medical institutions.

Since October, Guiyang and Guian New Area have hired 40 new personnel, 232 new staff members related to epidemic prevention and control, 204 staff members in primary medical institutions, and 75 nucleic acid sampling volunteers.

The annual assessment of theoretical and practical skills has been strengthened to enhance service capabilities within these areas.

In addition, Guiyang and Guian New Area have improved the coverage and quality of family doctor related services, with 48,090 people having signed service contracts and receiving help with chronic disease management and home follow-up services from rural doctors.