Abstract
China has recently changed its healthcare system. After the Chinese Communist Party took control of China in 1949, they created a health care system for its peasant population. For 50 years, the communist government took care of the health needs of the country. It dictated what was necessary and paid for it. The system was completely public. The central, provincial, and local governments owned, funded and ran hospitals. Medical care was provided at either no charge or very little charge to patients. The private practice of medicine disappeared, every doctors worked under the government control. Most public health services were provided through the Cooperative Medical System which was staffed by barefoot doctors with minimal basic training in Western and traditional Chinese medicine.
