(Yicai Global) Jan. 9 -- China’s township health centers and village clinics are coping with the latest outbreak of Covid-19 following a relaxation in pandemic prevention measures, thanks to a ‘county medical union’ that helps distribute resources between the hospitals in big cities and grassroots medical facilities.

"We have weathered the storm,” a doctor at a township health center under Yuzhou city in central Henan province told Yicai Global recently. “Although drug supplies remain relatively tight nationwide, we are not experiencing a problem, and the number of outpatients has dropped considerably. A few days ago there was always a long queue in front of the clinic.”

At the height of the latest flare-up about one month ago, there was both a shortage of medical staff and drugs at the health center, the director told Yicai Global. But thanks to the 'county medical union,' where county-level hospitals distribute money, technology and drugs to township health centers which in turn help out the village clinics, the health center was able to find a solution.

His ‘county medical union’ is connected to the Yuzhou City People's Hospital, Yuzhou Central Hospital and Yuzhou TCM Hospital. When the health center ran short of medicines, these hospitals provided the prescriptions to herbal remedies. Yuzhou is rich in natural herbs and so the health center was able to brew the herbal decoctions and distribute them to the village clinics for the villagers, the doctor said.

The big hospitals also often send doctors to help with patient diagnosis and to provide targeted guidance to doctors, he said. This has greatly assisted the health center's treatment ability.

Last month, a patient who had difficulty breathing came to the health center, the director said. With rugged mountain paths, it takes an ambulance at least two hours to make the round trip between the health center and the nearest county-level hospital. If experts from the main hospitals had not provided remote guidance on how to stabilize the patient before he was moved to a higher-level hospital, the patient could have died, he added.

"I hope higher-level hospitals can provide more training to medical staff at our health center once the number of patients drop," he added.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor