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Combining Practices
Chinese health care differs from health care around the world in that it combines Western practices with traditional Chinese medicine, such as:
provided preventive and primary care. During the 1950’s, citizens organized “patriotic health campaigns” to protest better care, and they received it. However, the Cultural Revolution led to a drastic decline in quality health care.
By 1990, rural China had such inadequate facilities that farmers waited until they were in dangerous health conditions to go to a city hospital, not their traditional commune doctor. Moreover, the Chinese government pays for most health care costs, but has no "safety gap." This means that families must save a lot of money just in the case of a medical emergency.
Quantity over Quality: China's Health Care Today
Currently, many major diseases are spreading throughout China's provinces, especially through the rural areas. Illnesses like avian flu, HIV-AIDS, pollution-related diseases, and cigarette-related diseases are almost pandemic in China. Care is not reaching its people because many doctors are untrained, and funding is so low that there are not enough ambulances anywhere. A service called the "Black Ambulance" is an illegal market that delivers people to hospitals for a large fee, because some would rather pay than wait for an ambulance to arrive. Pharmacies are also underfunded and understocked, but they are in every city and town and are open twenty-four hours a day.
If the Chinese government devotes more time to the up-keeping of their facilities, especially with a population as condensed as theirs, better health care would be circulated throughout the nation.
Chinese health care differs from health care around the world in that it combines Western practices with traditional Chinese medicine, such as:
- herbal treatments
- acupuncture
- qigong
- tui na
provided preventive and primary care. During the 1950’s, citizens organized “patriotic health campaigns” to protest better care, and they received it. However, the Cultural Revolution led to a drastic decline in quality health care.
By 1990, rural China had such inadequate facilities that farmers waited until they were in dangerous health conditions to go to a city hospital, not their traditional commune doctor. Moreover, the Chinese government pays for most health care costs, but has no "safety gap." This means that families must save a lot of money just in the case of a medical emergency.
Quantity over Quality: China's Health Care Today
Currently, many major diseases are spreading throughout China's provinces, especially through the rural areas. Illnesses like avian flu, HIV-AIDS, pollution-related diseases, and cigarette-related diseases are almost pandemic in China. Care is not reaching its people because many doctors are untrained, and funding is so low that there are not enough ambulances anywhere. A service called the "Black Ambulance" is an illegal market that delivers people to hospitals for a large fee, because some would rather pay than wait for an ambulance to arrive. Pharmacies are also underfunded and understocked, but they are in every city and town and are open twenty-four hours a day.
If the Chinese government devotes more time to the up-keeping of their facilities, especially with a population as condensed as theirs, better health care would be circulated throughout the nation.