Hospital visits by farmers in an impoverished northwest China county have more than doubled over the last five years -- not because of more illness, but because the ill can now afford treatment.

The hospitalization rate of residents in Yuzhong county, of Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province, rose to 6.85 percent last year from 2.94 percent in 2006, said Xu Aimin, vice director of Yuzhong health office.

The increase is thanks to the rural cooperative medical care system under which participants can claim back more than 40 percent of the cost of hospital care.

About 833 million rural Chinese, 94 percent of the rural population, had joined the system by the end of last year, according to the Ministry of Health.

Under the Yuzhong system, a cooperative fund of 160 yuan (US$23.79) per person is collected each year, with the central government contributing 60 yuan, local governments 70 yuan and individual farmers 30 yuan.

Bai Xiazhi, a farmer in Sanjiaocheng Town, Yuzhong County, spent 700 yuan (US$104) for a week in hospital, but the new rural cooperative medical care system gave her 450 yuan back.

"This system has really lightened our load," Bai's husband, Zhang Lei, said as the couple left the township hospital after Bai's recovery from a throat condition.

Easing fears

The rural cooperative medical care system was initiated in 2003 as a pilot program to help farmers recover some of their medical costs when seriously ill.

About 94 percent of the rural population of 380,000 in Yuzhong county has signed up to the system since 2006.

Last year, a total of 25,189 patients were hospitalized at an average cost of 2,812.8 yuan per person, but their average reimbursement rate was 46.79 percent, much higher than that of 28.26 percent in 2006.

The fund paid out an average 43-percent reimbursement rate in the first 10 months this year on an average 3,316 yuan spent by 17,432 hospital patients.

The rising reimbursements rate was due to higher government contributions, easing farmers' fears of expensive medical treatment, said Xu Aimin.

Most farmers in the county could afford medical treatment as the fund would cover up to the annual limit of 50,000 yuan, 15 times a local farmer's net annual income.

Xu said that in his previous experience as local government official, he had to find excuses to collect money from farmers to maintain the operation of rural hospitals.

Now the government provided financial aid to rural hospitals, which gave hope to all Chinese farmers that they could enjoy affordable medical treatment, he said.

"It was hard to believe in the past that the farmers' medical costs would be paid in this way by the state," Xu said.