The estimated total cost of healthcare services in China reached 2.89 trillion yuan ($473.5 billion) at the end of 2012, an 18.8-percent rise compared to the previous year, according to a statistics bulletin released on June 18 by the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

The country added 503,000 medical staff and 565,000 hospital beds in 2012, with respective totals having reached 9.12 million and 5.16 million. The number of outpatient visits in 2012 also increased by 9.9 percent.

However, relative cost of services is still lower than in other developing countries. China's total cost was only 5.15 percent of GDP in 2011, lower than that of Brazil (8.8 percent) and South Africa (9.2 percent).