context: Multilevel healthcare has been one of the main tasks for the PRC to ensure better distribution of healthcare resources to the public. Following the ‘Guiding opinions on promoting the construction of comprehensive county-level medical and healthcare communities’ and the Notice to further redirect urban medical resources to county-level hospitals and urban-rural grassroots institutions, NHC (National Health Commission) held a press conference emphasising the importance of Class A tertiary hospitals assisting county hospitals on 18 June 2024.
To incentivise high quality healthcare workers to serve primary hospitals in rural areas, the key is to establish the principle that ‘supporting the grassroots is honourable’, contends Mao Ying 毛颖 Fudan Affiliated Huashan Hospital president. Specific measures include
- prioritising medical personnel who support grassroots medical aid in job promotions, awards and cadre selection
- in the past three years, 96 employees from Huashan Hospital participated in grassroot aid for over six months, and 60 of them were promoted to senior positions afterwards
- large increase in living allowances for key grassroot support personnel
- guarantee leave for family visits and holidays
- holiday greetings from leaders
- support works through family emergencies
To establish more trust from patients to go to primary hospitals at grassroot level, Fu Wei 傅卫 NHC (National Health Commission) grassroot department director argues it is essential for primary hospitals to improve their technical and service providing capabilities, including enhancing
- the system
- promote cohesive county-level medical communities
- enhance cooperation and resource sharing between urban hospitals, leading county hospitals and grassroots institutions
- institutions
- continue the ‘quality services to grassroots’ initiative
- implement joint departments, regular joint clinics, shared wards and expert workstations
- focus on primary care, paediatrics, dentistry, traditional Chinese medicine and rehabilitation
- staff quality
- improve grassroot healthcare training via urban hospitals' expertise and training platforms
- services
- improve grassroots medical treatment environment and conditions
- optimise infrastructure and equipment updates
Fu also highlights that information technology is crucial for empowering grassroots healthcare and enhancing its capabilities
- 70 percent of health centres have telemedicine collaborations with higher-level hospitals
- AI-assisted diagnosis supports general practitioners and village doctors in treating common diseases and standardised electronic medical records
- 27 pilot counties used AI-assisted systems for over 26 million diagnostic suggestions by the end of 2023
- Anhui, Jiangxi and Ningxia are expanding these systems