Sichuan Nanchong: Significant Achievements in Healthcare Reform, Continuous Improvement in Public Health Index

On February 27th, the Nanchong Municipal Health Commission held a press conference. Ren Jiaping, the Party Secretary and Director of the Nanchong Municipal Health Commission, introduced the overall development of the city's health and wellness sector in 2024. Over the past year, Nanchong has deepened medical reforms around the needs of people's livelihoods, promoted high - quality development of the health and wellness sector, and achieved several core indicators ranking at the forefront of the province, significantly enhancing the public's sense of health - related gains.

Facts on the Ground: Health Benefits for Urban and Rural Areas

In 2024, Nanchong focused on six of the 30 livelihood projects in the field of health and wellness, accelerating the construction of 14 key projects, including the Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital. It secured 3.29 billion RMB in budgetary funds and special long - term treasury bonds from the central and provincial levels, with a total investment of 1.5 billion RMB reserved for "two - key" and "two - new" projects. The city's average life expectancy increased to 78.69 years, and the mortality rates for newborns and pregnant women have remained below the provincial average for nine and eleven consecutive years, respectively. Primary medical capabilities have been continuously strengthened, with 30 secondary medical centers and 2,892 standardized village clinics built across the county, achieving an integrated management coverage rate of 90% for village clinics. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) services have been fully extended to the grassroots level, with 100% of primary medical institutions providing TCM services, accounting for 50% of the service volume. Eight counties (cities) have been recognized as advanced counties for grassroots TCM work nationwide.

Deepening Innovation and Reform: Accelerating the Rise of the Northeast Sichuan Medical Hub

The construction of the national regional medical center has made breakthrough progress, with the main structure of the Cardiovascular Disease Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment Center being completed ahead of schedule. It has introduced 62 new technologies from top - tier medical institutions such as Beijing Anzhen Hospital, filling 10 technological gaps in the Northeast Sichuan region. The provincial medical center of North Sichuan Medical University Affiliated Hospital is accelerating, with two new national clinical research center regional sub - centers added. Nanchong has become one of the only two cities in the province with "three centers." The city has established 28 cross - regional specialty alliances and cumulatively recognized 161 inspection and examination results, saving patients over 300 million RMB annually.

Improving Services for the Elderly and Children, Strengthening the Public Health Defense Line

The city has added 5,365 elderly care beds and built 317 childcare service institutions, with 4.17 childcare spots per thousand people. Four county - level comprehensive childcare centers supported by 96.46 million RMB in long - term treasury bonds are about to be put into use. Free home - based services for disabled elderly people cover 21,000 individuals, and the number of family doctor teams has increased to 2,292. The new project of the municipal public health service center has been implemented, with nine high - level biological testing laboratories built and put into use. Twelve professional teams at the city and county levels, including infectious disease emergency response and nuclear radiation prevention, are operating routinely, and the proportion of public health professionals has increased to 80%.

Continuous Increase in Medical Benefits for the People, Effective Reduction in Medical Burden

The city has implemented people - friendly measures such as "one - time registration for three days" and "night (noon) clinics," with 11 internet hospitals and 17 smart hospitals built. The remote diagnosis and treatment platform covers 46 medical institutions. The average cost per hospital stay in public hospitals has decreased for three consecutive years. The city has strictly cracked down on fraudulent insurance claims and excessive medical treatment, with 324 illegal cases investigated. High - end medical resources are accelerating aggregation, with more than 260 master's and doctoral talents introduced throughout the year. Seven experts from Beijing Anzhen Hospital and other institutions are stationed in Nanchong long - term, conducting more than 700 high - difficulty surgeries and radiating to 130 hospitals in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Chongqing, and Yunnan.

It is understood that in 2025, the city will continue to focus on the construction of "Healthy Nanchong," deepen the reform of the linkage between medical services, medical insurance, and pharmaceuticals, and promote the expansion and下沉of high - quality medical resources to enhance the public's sense of health - related gains and make their sense of happiness more sustainable. (By Yi Qinghai and Tang Min)