The municipal government of Beijing plans to allocate 80 million yuan (US$9.63 million) this year to improve the rural medical services, said sources with the city's development and reform committee.
  
The city vows to prioritize the development of rural medical and health facilities and setting up comprehensive medical service network.
  
As an important step, the city will devote major efforts to implementing the new-type medical cooperation system in a bid to spur exchanges between rural and urban medical staff.
  
The 80 million yuan appropriated by the municipal government will be mainly injected into the development of the rural illness prevention and control center, mother and child health care center, and township and village hospitals.
  
To date, the municipal development and reform committee has provided 40 million yuan (US$4.81 million) for the 21 reconstruction and renovation medical projects on the city's outskirts.  

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2005)