BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- China is planning to send about 10,000 doctors from cities to assist medical care service in rural areas in three years, according to the Ministry of Health.

Dispatch of the doctors will begin before the end of June this year, a senior ministry official told the annual national health work conference convened here Monday.

The project, called "Ten Thousand Doctors Assisting Rural Medical Care," aims to improve the treatment capability of rural hospitals and provide farmers with timely, inexpensive and convenient medical care and treatment, said executive Vice Minister of Health Gao Qiang.

As part of the project, this year about 600 county-level hospitals in the comparatively underdeveloped central-and-western regions will get doctors from city hospitals. They will treat patients, teach and train local medical staff, and offer advice onhospital management.

The project will be jointly funded by the central and local governments, said Gao.

China has a rural population of 900 million, and nearly 80 percent of them lack medical care. To help farmers tide over serious illness, China has launched a cooperative medical care system and set up mobile medical teams in rural areas.

(Source:Xinhuanet)