The Ministry of Finance said the Central Government recently allocated 37.2 billion yuan ($5.45 billion) to subsidize nationwide medical reform.

Specifically, 22 billion yuan ($3.22 billion) will be used to subsidize a new type of rural cooperative medical care system; 3.7 billion yuan ($541 million) to subsidize basic medical insurance for urban residents; 3.2 billion yuan ($468 million) to urban and rural Medicaid; and 8.3 billion yuan ($1.21 billion) to basic public health services.

The Chinese Government passed a medical reform plan in January 2009, which aims to spend 850 billion yuan ($124 billion) by 2011 to provide health care to the country's population of 1.3 billion.