Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    TWENTY years after its inception, Shenzhen’s grass-roots medical service embodied mainly by clinics established in communities is taking shape, meeting more than 40 percent of the city’s health-care demand, the city’s health commission said at an event Thursday marking the 20th anniversary of Shenzhen community clinics.

    Shenzhen’s first 19 community clinics were established in 1996 as part of a pioneering health-care model in China, said Luo Lexuan, director of the health commission, at the event. Now the city has 630 community clinics, allowing residents to reach at least one of them within 15 minutes, he said. These clinics received 32 million patients last year, accounting for 43 percent of the city’s total.

    To give residents easier access to established doctors, at least 300 of the 630 community clinics plan to hold doctor’s workshops this year.