Pairing assistance improves medical services in China's Tibet

LHASA -- Dozens of top-rated hospitals from across China have offered pairing-up assistance to county-level hospitals in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region over the past few years, helping the plateau region improve medical services.

Following a plan unveiled by the central government in June 2019, a total of 40 hospitals of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have paired up with 36 county-level hospitals of traditional Tibetan medicine, the regional health commission said Wednesday in a statement.

These TCM hospitals from all over the country have sent 132 management and medical staffers to Tibet, treated more than 100,000 patients, and offered over 6 million yuan (about 938,000 U.S. dollars) in assistance funds, the commission said, citing official figures.

They have also worked to improve management regulations, carry out new projects, and train medical personnel of the hospitals in Tibet.

"Through the pairing assistance, the service and management capabilities of county-level hospitals in Tibet have constantly improved," the commission said.

Such assistance initiatives from other provincial-level regions have enabled the exchanges of TCM, Tibetan medicine and Western medicine, and increased the availability of medical services to people at the grassroots level, according to the commission.

Between 1994 and 2020, other provincial regions, central government departments and centrally administered state-owned enterprises have injected 52.7 billion yuan into Tibet through 6,330 projects to assist the region's development.