Lower medical expenses

Zulpiya is a pregnant woman who lives in Layka Township of Hotan County. On May 18, she went to the township health care center for a prenatal examination. She received an ultrasound examination, and the doctor gave her two kinds of medicine. For all this, she only had to pay 10 yuan ($1.46) from her family's account in the rural cooperative medical system.

By now, more than 10 million farmers and herdsmen in Xinjiang enjoy the same benefits. According to figures from the Health Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, since the rural cooperative medical system was introduced in 2003, the system has covered all 89 counties and districts in Xinjiang that are incorporated in the system. About 10.05 million farmers and herdsmen in Xinjiang have participated in the rural cooperative medical system, accounting for more than 94 percent of the region's total population of farmers and herdsmen.

Kasimjan, Director of the Health Bureau of Yakan County, Kashgar Prefecture, told Beijing Review that without the rural cooperative medical system, farmers and herdsmen had to pay for medical services themselves. Now they only pay 10 yuan per year per person, plus a 90-yuan subsidy ($13.18) from the Central Government and the government of the autonomous region. Farmers and herdsmen can get additional medical expenses reimbursed up to 90 percent.

According to provisions of the Health Department, participants in the rural cooperative medical system are reimbursed for no less than 85 percent of their medical expenses incurred at township health care centers; no less than 65 percent at county-level hospitals; no less than 55 percent at prefecture-level hospitals and no less than 50 percent at autonomous region-level hospitals.

Since the government subsidizes most medical expenses and participants only pay a small amount, farmers and herdsmen in Xinjiang are highly motivated to participate in the rural cooperative medical system, which also promotes infrastructure construction in grass-roots medical institutions and improves medical service in rural and pastoral areas.