Health Highlights: April 6, 2009
April 7 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
China Announces Major Health System Reforms
By 2020, all Chinese citizens will be provided with universal health care, the government announced Monday.
Officials said reforms to the current system -- criticized as costly and inadequate -- will provide "safe, effective, convenient and affordable" health services for all 1.3 billion citizens, the Associated Press reported.
Under the new plan, hospitals and clinics in poor rural areas and in less developed cities would be improved, and the price of essential medicines would be capped, said the official Xinhua news agency. In addition, there will be "diversified medical insurance systems" to cover employees in the private sector, unemployed people in cities and those who live in the poor countryside.
Greater attention will also be given to disease prevention and control, maternal health, mental health and first-aid services. There were no details about the cost of the reforms, the AP reported.
Currently, only 30 percent of the population in China is covered, according to the AP. A serious medical condition can deplete a family's life savings, and setting aside money to pay medical fees can significantly reduce domestic spending.
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Simultaneous Partial-Face, Double-Hand Transplant a First: Report
The world's first simultaneous partial-face and double-hand transplant was performed in France over the weekend.
Dozens of doctors worked in teams for 30 hours on a 30-year-old male patient whose burn scars from a 2004 accident prevented him from having any social life, Paris' Public Hospital System said Monday, the Associated Press reported.
The operation was the world's sixth partial-face transplant but the first to include hands as well. It was performed at the Henri Mondor Hospital in the Paris suburb of Creteil. The transplanted organs came from a brain-dead patient.
The first part of the operation involved transplantation of the upper half of the face, including the scalp, forehead, nose, ears and upper and lower eyelids, the AP reported. A new set of hands were then attached above the wrist. All relevant arteries, veins, nerves and tendons were successfully reconnected by the surgeons, the hospital authority said.
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