On November 19, the reporter learned from Yichang Municipal Social Assistance Bureau that, in order to make greater efforts to promote the medical aid of urban and rural poor residents and improve the level of assistance, the proportion of self-pay medical assistance in Yichang City will be increased to over 55 percent within the scope of the policy, among which Zigui County and Wufeng County reached to 60 percent, Yuan’an County 65 percent, thus the task established at the beginning of 2013 has already been finished. After the proportion of medical assistance is increased, more than 260,000 needy people will benefit from it.

　　This year, under the guidance of the Hubei Provincial Department of Civil Affairs, the Instruction on Pilot Medical Aid Project About Critical Diseases has been carried out by some counties. At present, except for Yuan’an County and Changyang County, other places like Yiling District, Xingshan County, Wufeng County and Yidu also implemented the innovative style of medical assistance by combining disease categories and treatment expenses together. In this way, the needy people who meet the requirement can have priority in medical assistance, and the burden of health care is effectively alleviated. (Correspondent Huang Yan, Reporter Xiao Min)