China's National Health Commission launched a capacity building platform in its aim to empower its community-level healthcare services. The country also approved a drug from two global pharmaceutical companies that threats anemia caused by chronic kidney disease in patients dependent on dialysis.
A report was presented during the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in October 2017. It summarized that community-level healthcare services in China should be improved and its practitioners work to be strengthened.
The National Health Commission started a capacity building and training program for community-level talents. The Commission is now ready to start the capacity building platform which is an online and offline effort.
The deputy director of the National Health Commission, Wang Hesheng, said that talent team building is the key component to enhancing community-level healthcare services.
According to Fang Laiying, a member of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and vice-president of the Chinese Hospital Association, despite the rapid development of China's health industry at the grass-roots level, the scarcest resource in the medical industry currently in China are medical talents catering to the needs at the grass-roots level, not professors.
He also said that cultivating a grass-root talent team has been a top priority in the reform of the medical health industry
Healthcare is one of the key agenda of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The president's drive gained the attention of the medical industry. Recently, two global pharmaceutical companies chose China as first China for approval of a new drug.
Roxadustat, a drug developed by AstraZeneca and FibroGen, was approved by the National Medical Products Administration. The medicine was developed to treat anemia which was caused by chronic kidney disease in patients that are dependent on the dialysis procedure.
According to Chris Chung, the managing director of FibroGen China, almost 10 years ago, Fibro-Gen made the decision to develop Roxadustat in China as a domestic Class 1 innovative drug. He added that it arose from a commitment to give Chinese patients accelerated access to critically-needed innovative medicines. Mr. Chung added that they're grateful to the patients and physicians in China who participated in their clinical studies.
Helen Chen, Greater China managing partner at L.E.K. Consulting, healthcare reform in 2009 significantly strengthened the healthcare infrastructure, such as having a Level 2 hospital of 100 beds or more in every country and also provided near-universal insurance coverage. She added that essential drugs were introduced, and broader funding meant that mandatory vaccines became available nationwide.
