22 March 2019 - “China's health-care reform will be regarded as successful when a tiered health-care delivery system is fully achieved”, said the head of China's National Health Commission, Minister Ma Xiaowei, on March 8, during this year's “two Sessions” (the annual meetings of the national legislature and the top political advisory body).

When journalists asked how the difficulty for Chinese patients to access health-care services in large hospitals could be solved, Minister Ma pointed out that the key solution was the establishment of a tiered health-care delivery system that can coordinate primary health care and hospital care. 

Therefore, patients can be treated at the primary or community health centre level by general practitioners (GPs) for common and minor illnesses and be referred to hospitals for more complex and severe disorders. A successful tiered health-care delivery system cannot be achieved without a robust primary health-care system within which GPs are fully empowered as gatekeepers.

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