The health department in Central China's Hunan province has given rural children with leukemia a subsidy up to 150,000 yuan ($24,000), Xinhua News Agency reported on Nov 7.

The new policy is aimed at strengthening support in treating rural children with the disease under the new rural cooperative medical care system.

According to the department, there are about 500 children diagnosed with leukemia every year in the province.

In 2010, Hunan province started a pilot project treating rural children who have leukemia in qualified public hospitals for free. It was the first province in the country to do so.