Putian, Fujian province, is upgrading its village clinic facilities to provide residents with better public health services.

New clinics have been built and medical facilities have been improved in the city’s 32 villages, as a first batch of trial villages for a city government project to enhance medical services in rural areas.

Huang Hongyan, a 73-year-old resident of Zize village, one of the 32 villages that has a population of 6,000, said the establishment of a new clinic near his home made accessing care much more convenient.

The clinic, which was set up in February, treats about 50 patients per day.

In the past, the village clinic was a cramped little house that was always packed with patients, Huang said.

“It was far from my house and people had to stand to have an intravenous drip.”

The new clinic is much bigger, comprised of a consulting room, a transfusion room and a pharmacy, and featuring regular medical facilities such as an examination table and transfusion stands, Huang said.

Chen Zhaohua, an official with Putian’s Bureau of Health, said it is planned to upgrade medical facilities in more villages in the future.

There are currently 958 village clinics in Putian.

To lessen the difficulty for rural residents to access medical services, more clinic doctors will be sent to the villages, Chen said.

Chen said the bureau will also hold training programs in the villages to improve the expertise of clinic doctors.

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