On May 2, the General Office of the State Council released a circular on the key tasks in deepening the medical and healthcare system reform in 2016, specified the departments responsible for taking charge in the nine key tasks and the timeline for doing so.

Among which, the reform plan for the medical and healthcare system during the 13th five-year period should be completed by the end of June and it is expected that by 2017 patients who are transferred to another hospital in accordance with their physician's recommendations should be able to pay their medical bills directly at the new hospitals.

ANBOUND's research team is of the view that following Wei Zexi’s incident, the public will now demand bigger accountability on the management of the nation’s healthcare sector and surely, the public expectation on medical healthcare reform will be higher.

The planning on the medical and healthcare reform has long been criticized and in order to achieve a breakthrough, the 13th five-year plan on medical reform should be overhauled by changing its core thinking.

Bearing this in mind, the reform plan on medical and healthcare system for the next five years should not be rushed through.