The Ministry of Health is working to let rural residents pay even less for the treatment of severe diseases by providing a secondary reimbursement, the health authority said on Monday.

The rural healthcare insurance system, led by the ministry and run by local rural healthcare insurance units nationwide, has helped more than 340,000 rural residents who have severe diseases, said Vice-Minister of Health Liu Qian.

"The system has helped finance the treatment of more than 4,000 children with leukemia and more than 14,000 children with congenital heart disease," he said. "It reimbursed 74.1 percent of the leukemia patients' and 77 percent of the heart patients' medical cost."