A team of family doctors goes from door to door to deliver medicine for free to low-income families in Qingdao's Huangdao district on May 12. For years, the district has been sending teams of family doctors for free physical checkups and free basic treatment for low-income households. [Photo by Zhang Jingang/for chinadaily.com.cn]

The province of Shandong has made strenuous efforts to improve medical services and make medical care more accessible and affordable during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20).

Over the past five years, Shandong has put more efforts into building health and medical systems and working for breakthroughs in modern hospital management, medical insurance, medicine supply, comprehensive supervision, and a diagnosis and treatment mechanism based on the severity of illnesses.

The province has ramped up measures to ensure a steady supply of basic and first-aid drugs. Tighter supervision on drug use has been implemented in medical institutions so that basic medicines have priority in both procurement and utilization. The proportion of basic medicines to total drug stock has been raised at state-run grassroots hospitals.

Shandong has also implemented health-related poverty reduction programs in order to improve people's wellbeing and solve the problem of people being driven to poverty by illness or slipping back into poverty due to illness.