The Chinese Government has allocated another 18.4 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) to a subsidy fund to support the nation's medical reform, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on July 12.

The new fund brings total subsidies allocated by the Central Government to 171.7 billion yuan ($26.4 billion) so far this year.

Of the 18.4 billion yuan ($2.83 billion), nearly 40 percent, or 7.2 billion yuan ($1.1 billion), will be used to build maternal and child-care service centers, first-aid centers and other public health institutions which specialize in the treatment of tuberculosis and leprosy.

Meanwhile, 4.2 billion yuan ($646 million) will be used to subsidize the purchase of medical equipment by county-level traditional Chinese medicine hospitals and 3.4 billion yuan ($523 million) will be used to subsidize the medical costs of people in both urban and rural areas.