China's Health Ministry has dispatched 3,000 medical workers to rural counties listed as pilots for poverty elimination, Health Minister Gao Qiang said Friday in Beijing.

Northwest China's Gansu Province, alone, has sent 1,050 urban doctors to improve medical care in small towns and rural villages.

The Ministry of Health joined hands with the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine to launch a project called "Ten Thousand Doctors Assist Rural Medical Care" in April to help improve medical care in rural China.

According to the project, China will send about 10,000 doctors in cities across China to work in county-level hospitals or village health centers.

Each doctor participating in the project is required to sign an agreement with the ministry to ensure that the doctor will protect the interests of rural patients, provide them with sound medical service and exempt them from medical cost.

About 600 county-level hospitals in comparatively underdeveloped central and western parts of China will receive doctors from city hospitals. They will treat patients, train local medical staffs and offer proposals on hospital management.

China has a rural population of 900 million. Nearly 80 percent of them lack medical care. To help farmers afford major diseases, China has launched a cooperative medical care system and set up mobile medical teams in rural areas.

Source: Xinhua