A staff member helps a patient with his check-out procedure in a hospital in Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu Province, Dec. 19, 2019. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)
China's top legislature Saturday voted to adopt the law on promoting basic medical and health care.
As the country's first fundamental and comprehensive law on basic medical and health care, the law will take effect from June 1, 2020.
Lawmakers approved the law at the end of a six-day bimonthly session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee.
The law aims to promote the medical and health care development in China, ensure its citizens have access to basic medical and health care services, improve the health of its citizens and build a "healthy China."
The medical and health care industry shall take a people-centered approach and always serve the public, says the law.
The law stresses empowering grassroots medical institutions and channeling more resources to the grassroots.
The country should give priority to developing community-level healthcare facilities and better supporting medical workers in local communities and poor remote areas, says the law.
It also requires the establishment of a system in which medical staff are dispatched to work in local communities and remote areas with harsh conditions on a regular basis.
The law says special preferential treatment shall be given to medical personnel working in local communities and remote areas in terms of remuneration, allowances, career development opportunity and awards, among others.
The law also highlights the importance of medical and health care education.
It incorporates health education in the national education system and encourages schools and universities to carry out health education in various forms.
According to the law, governments at all levels should strengthen health care education and professional personnel training, establish a system for releasing key information on health care knowledge and skills, and provide scientific and accurate health care information to the public.
