BOSTON - China is heading in the right direction since it reformed its healthcare system two years ago, said China's Health Minister Chen Zhu during a keynote speech delivered at the Harvard America-China Health Summit in Boston on Wednesday.

The so-called "Deepening Health System Reform Plan" passed in April 2009 to lower medical expenses for Chinese patients has made healthcare more accessible, affordable and equitable, Chen claimed. As part of the plan, the government spent at least 850 billion yuan ($133.2 billion) to improve the healthcare system between 2009 and 2011.

In his bid to trump up the benefits of the plan, Chen said medical costs have gone down by at least 30 percent at the end of June.

He also claimed that the wide gap between health services in rural and urban areas is slowly closing and that government subsidies for subscribers to the new rural medical plan has increased by tenfold per person this year compared to subsidies in 2003.

China's reform of its healthcare system, dubbed "Healthy China 2020", aims to provide universal national health service and began three years ago.

"Healthy China 2020 is a crucial period of time for China's healthcare reform, a transition of many aspects of China's economy and society," Chen said.

From 2000 to 2010, he said government spending on healthcare has increased from 16 percent to 29 percent.

"This indicates the continuing government investment into health. As a result, the burden on people's medical expenses has lessened. I'm confident that over time, health equity will be met in China," Chen said.

The inaugural summit, organized by the China Initiative of the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), seeks to examine health reforms in China and the United States through an open dialogue between Chinese and American health policymakers, experts and leaders. About 600 people participated in the two-day event.

Like China, the US recently embarked on healthcare reform. Named the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the legislation aims to provide medical coverage for close to 32 million Americans by 2014.

The US may be the world's biggest healthcare spender but it wants to learn from the Chinese experience, said Sherry Glied with the US Department of Health and Human Services.

The US and China have much to learn from one another's experience and challenges, she said. The US government needs to identify the different strategies that work in each state. What works for Boston may not work in rural Kansas, Glied said.

The summit occurred at a timely moment in global health, said Julio Frenk, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health and head of the HSPH China Initiative.

"Both China and the US are embarking on major health reform. China's health reform is one of the most observed in the world. We are at this historical moment where the world is searching for ways to finance healthcare and to combat diseases and malnutrition," Frenk said in a speech.

"China is a nation of complex problems but it also has great energy for innovation. This is probably the health reform that will not only benefit China but the rest of the world."

Jorge Dominguez, vice provost for International Affairs at Harvard University, said the summit is important to sustain ties between Harvard University and China. Over the last 10 years, the number of Chinese students studying at Harvard has grown. Last year, there were 541 Chinese students enrolled in degree programs across the university, Dominguez said.

China Daily