Expert: Integrate medical resources

Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province have been urged to better 

integrate their medical resources to improve the quality of health

 services for all residents in the region.

"Better integration would increase efficiency and help control 

medical expenditure, so that people can get quality,

 safe and sustainable basic health services,"

 said Wang Yixin, a professor of general medicine at Beijing Anzhen Hospital.

She was speaking at a discussion during the annual session of the Beijing

 Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference,

 the top advisory body, which concluded on Tuesday.

"Integration would help address the issue in Beijing, 

home to most of China's top hospitals, of hospitals being 

overloaded with patients, which puts a great strain 

on resources and makes it difficult for people to receive medical care," Wang said.

Thirty percent of patients at all major hospitals in Beijing

 in the first half of 2016 were from outside the capital, 

according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health 

and Family Planning. More than 7 percent were from neighboring Hebei.

At the Beijing Children's Hospital, for example, doctors receive more

 than 10,000 patients a day during peak seasons, with more than 

70 percent of the patients coming from outside Beijing.

This means patients often have to wait hours to see a doctor, 

sometimes resulting in clashes between medical staff and patients.

Yue Changhai, a member of the China Association of Medical 

Equipment and the CPPCC Beijing Committee, suggested the

 city government take measures to guide top hospitals that 

receive most patients from outside Beijing to establish branches in neighboring areas.

"Such a measure would help control the number of patients flowing

 into core areas of Beijing and ease traffic congestion," he said.

 "Meanwhile, it would make hospitals less crowded and enable 

them to provide more people with quality services."

The Beijing municipal government is encouraging major hospitals

 in urban areas to relocate some facilities to the suburbs.

 Beijing Friendship Hospital, for example, is building a

 hospital in Shunyi district, while its original site downtown

 is being scaled down.

Health officials have also encouraged hospitals to cooperate

 with clinics in neighboring areas such as Baoding and Zhangjiakou, 

both in Hebei, to help improve the hospitals' service quality and capability.

Wang said hospitals in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei should make full

use of information technology to establish an online medical platform

 covering the whole region to promote coordinated development of healthcare.

The government should also make more favorable policies for 

medical cooperation and integration in the region, she added,

 such as encouraging experts from big hospitals to provide 

training and services at community health clinics.