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SCIO briefing on democratic reform in Tibet

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Speakers:
Norbu Dondrup, a member of the Standing Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China and executive vice chairman of the regional government;

Dawa, deputy director general of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee;

Luo Jie, director general of Ecological Environment Department of the regional government;

Ren Jingdong, deputy director general of the Development and Reform Commission of the Tibet Autonomous Region and head of the Energy Bureau

Chairperson:
Hu Kaihong, spokesperson for the State Council Information Office of China

Date:
March 27, 2019

China Daily:

The vice chairman just mentioned there are great changes in the medical industry in Tibet. Can you please give a detailed description of the changes? Thank you.

Ren Jingdong:

As we all know, there were only small-scale government-run medical institutions in the old Tibet, employing less than 100 people. What is worth noting also is that the limited medical resources then were restricted to aristocrats, higher-ranking officials and lamas. A large number of working-class people were unable to get treatment when they contracted diseases. Over the past 60 years, the backward medical services in Tibet have witnessed a fundamental change and have virtually improved and developed in sync with the rest of the country. With steady improvements in medical services, maternal and child health care, Tibetan clinics and medicine, and disease prevention and control, infectious diseases which had severely threatened the public health in the autonomous region had been basically under control by the end of 1970s. The mortality rate and incidence of infectious and endemic diseases had also been substantially reduced. In addition, a number of hospitals have since been renovated and upgraded, including hospitals at the autonomous region level, the prefectural level and 71 medical institutions at the county level. A four-tier medical service system (referring to the autonomous region, cities including prefectures, counties and townships) covering urban and rural areas has been established. Here, I want to stress that, under the special care of the CPC Central Committee, delegations of medical professionals have been dispatched to Tibet in recent years, which include medical staff from 17 provincial and municipal regions involved in a group support program to aid Tibet. Some of them are from renowned hospitals, such as the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking University People's Hospital and Peking University Hospital. Those professionals have strongly promoted the development of the medical industry in Tibet.

There is a substantial amount of facts and data in the White Paper. This series of facts fully shows that the right to health of all ethnic groups in Tibet has been effectively guaranteed. Thank you.