Chongqing- "This country is its people; the people are the country," said Xi Jinping at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) opening on October 16. The mountain city Chongqing in southwest China pledged to improve the people's well-being and raise their quality of life by all means, according to a press conference on October 19.
The convenient pathway for the public at the Chongqing Rail Transit Tongyuanju Station. (Photo provided to iChongqing)
The most extensive provincial medical coordination system
China has built the world's largest education, social security, and medical systems. Currently, Chongqing has established China's most extensive provincial medical coordination system with the largest number of insured people covered from urban to rural areas.
By the end of September 2022, the city's medical insurance covered 32 million people, accounting for 99.7% of residents, according to an official from the Chongqing Medical Insurance Bureau.
Chongqing's public services are more convenient thanks to digital government platforms like Yukuaiban Residents can pay in 55 hospitals and 194 pharmacies through face recognition.
China's first smart medical insurance laboratory, the National Smart Healthcare Laboratory, has been used in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, taking advantage of Chongqing's big data and intelligence technology. The laboratory strongly promotes the unified national development in healthcare information and carries out tests on national healthcare information platforms.
To support epidemic prevention and control, the Chongqing government has temporarily included COVID-19 drugs and medical treatments in the medical insurance. It also has lowered the price of the COVID-19 vaccine four times. The cost of the inactivated vaccine has been reduced by more than 90%, from 200 yuan (about 27.7 U.S. dollars) to 15 yuan.
Nucleic acid testing has gone through six rounds of price reduction. The price for a single person has been reduced from 260 yuan to 16 yuan, and the multi-person test dropped from 25 yuan to 3.5 yuan.
Renovated communities benefiting 980,000 Chongqing residents
Employment remained stable, with 3.65 million new urban jobs created over the past five years. Personal income improved steadily, with residents' per capita disposable income reaching 33,803 yuan, an annual growth rate of 8.9%.
The supply of elderly services has been expanding, with the number of elderly service beds in the city reaching 230,000, or 32.8 beds for every 1,000 elderly people.
We are meeting the needs of residents for diversified livelihood with integrated development of health care, tourism, the Internet, and food industries generating more than 40 hot spring tourist attractions and over 3,700 forest homestays.
An old residential area after renovation in Yunyang County, Chongqing. (Photo provided to iChongqing)
The report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC highlighted that improving people's livelihood and quality of life and renovating old communities remains an effective approach. So far, Chongqing has renovated 3981 communities, benefiting 980,000 residents.
Chongqing is a mountain city with a unique plan to facilitate public travel.
"We have sorted out the pedestrian system around the Chongqing Rail Transit (CRT) station, adding sidewalks and elevators to connect the CRT stations, bus stations, and residential areas," said an official from the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
He continued, meanwhile, we have built 330 kilometers of mountain city trails, such as the Huangjueping Trail and Nanbin Trail. Walking around on the trails of the mountain city is a unique way for Chongqing residents to get around.