When Premier Li Keqiang asked Niang Maoxian for advice on Thursday, the physician didn't hesitate to give it.

"We want more medical devices," she said. "It would be great if the government could provide enough of them for 56 hospitals that are still short of equipment in our prefecture."

The director of the obstetrics and gynecology department at People's Hospital in the Huangnan Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Qinghai province made the appeal at a National People's Congress panel discussion.