The reform of public hospitals has made real progress, according to a Ministry of Health survey released on Sunday based on 12 leading comprehensive public hospitals in Beijing.

The percentage of hospital income that came from the sale of medicines continued to fall, whilst workload rose 8-10 percent annually.

"That suggests that their income structure has profoundly changed due to reforms," said Wang Yu, deputy director of the ministry's Medical Policy Department.

In the past, patients often complained that they spent far more on buying medicines from hospitals than on medical services. The government lowered prices of medicines and encouraged public bidding in hospitals' medicine purchases to protect consumers and curb corruption.

The survey also said that the average prescription price went down by 40 percent.

This can be attributed to a more standardized and professional pharmaceutical service and customized pharmaceutical consulting service, Wang said.

However, consumer satisfaction still dropped this year.

Half of hospital employees surveyed believed this came from a lack of communication between hospitals and patients, while a third believed it was due to receiving bad service.

"The Achilles' heel of our public hospitals is service, not technology," Wang said.

He said the ministry would launch a nationwide survey of public hospitals in 2005 to help raise their management and service performance levels.

(Xinhua News Agency February 7, 2005)