Citing Xinhua, the Global Times reported that President Xi Jinping told a national health conference in Beijing on October 12-13 that the 15th Five-Year Plan period is a critical stretch for reaching the 2035 Healthy China goal. Premier Li Qiang laid out specific tasks in closing remarks.
The Global Times, citing a Xinhua dispatch from Beijing dated October 13, reported that the National Health Conference was held in the capital on October 12-13. According to the report, President Xi Jinping attended and delivered a major speech, saying China must firmly follow a path of health development with Chinese characteristics and ensure that the Healthy China initiative makes decisive progress during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. The gathering is among the highest-level meetings on health policy and is read as a signal of the policy tone for the next five-year cycle.
광고 문의 · 300×250The report said Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi attended, along with Politburo members, state councilors and officials from the National People's Congress and the CPPCC. Representatives from provinces, regions and municipalities, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, central government bodies, some state-owned enterprises and expert groups also took part. This newspaper could not confirm whether the full speech text or specific figures from conference documents were released, so what follows is limited to the points relayed by the Global Times.
Xi's Message: Prevention First, Health as a Priority
According to the report, Xi said that since the 18th Party Congress the Party Central Committee has placed protecting public health at a priority strategic position and that China has built the world's largest systems for medical services, traditional medicine, disease control and medical security. He described the Healthy China goal as a system that is balanced, inclusive, high-quality and efficient, with capacities in health management, disease prevention, medical care, insurance, pharmaceutical innovation and talent training, and with steadily improving core health indicators.
Xi reportedly stressed that health work plays an overarching and foundational role and that a health-first development strategy must be implemented. In drawing up plans, designing policies, assessing projects and building infrastructure, the effect on public health should be weighed first. That suggests health is being treated as a general yardstick across economic and social policy rather than only a matter inside the medical system.
On prevention, Xi said it is the most economical and effective health strategy. He called for guiding society toward a sound view of health, fostering good habits among young people, improving the ecological and living environment, supporting nationwide fitness, tightening food-safety oversight and strengthening disease-control systems, while holding the line against large-scale epidemics. The emphasis can be understood as part of continued review of public-health preparedness after the COVID-19 era.
Medical Reform, Talent and International Cooperation
On care delivery, Xi named comprehensive improvement of medical services a key task, including strengthening primary care, optimizing the layout of facilities, promoting tiered treatment, managing chronic diseases, combining traditional Chinese and Western medicine, advancing basic research and commercialization, building the health industry and improving the patient experience. He said the main thrust of reform should be coordinated development and governance of medical services, insurance and pharmaceuticals, with deeper public-hospital reform, a multi-tiered medical-security system, better bulk-purchase, payment and supply mechanisms for drugs, and stricter quality oversight.
On personnel, Xi said leadership teams of health authorities and medical institutions, especially their top officials, should be well chosen and strengthened, and that China needs a sufficient, well-structured and highly qualified medical workforce, better medical ethics and a culture that respects doctors and health work. Externally, he called for building a global community of health for all, deepening Belt and Road health cooperation, innovating overseas medical assistance and telling the story of Healthy China well.
Premier Li Qiang, in closing remarks, said Xi's speech answered fundamental, directional and overall questions in health work and must be studied and put into practice. He called for a health-first orientation, preserving the public-service nature of healthcare, balancing basic coverage with higher quality, and deeper reform and opening-up. Priorities included major disease control, tiered treatment, a multi-level insurance system, traditional Chinese medicine, services for the elderly and children, and technology support. No budget or quantified targets appeared in the report; these are expected to be fleshed out in the 15th Five-Year Plan documents and follow-up ministry measures.
