Comments on the Report Concerning Work at Beijing Hospital [I]
(August 2, 1965)


Please have the Secretariat handle this.


Mao Zedong


August 2nd


[I] These comments were written on a report dated August 1, 1965, submitted by the Party Committee of the Ministry of Public Health to Mao Zedong and the CPC Central Committee, concerning further reforms in the work of Beijing Hospital. The report stated: On June 26 of this year, the Chairman delivered a severe criticism of the Ministry of Public Health.  At present, in accordance with the Chairman’s criticism and the instructions of Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, and others, we are examining our mistakes and formulating measures to shift the focus of health work toward the countryside. We now put forward our views on the further reform of Beijing Hospital for your review and approval, so that implementation can begin immediately.

First, completely transform the nature of Beijing Hospital by abolishing its current name and renaming it Dongdan Hospital. The hospital’s special function of providing medical care exclusively to high-ranking cadres and their families should also be abolished. Henceforth, like other hospitals in the city, it will be fully open to the general public and will assume responsibility for district-based state-funded medical services.

Second, the medical care previously provided at Beijing Hospital for high-ranking cadres and their families should, going forward, be allocated according to the principle of district division and undertaken by various district hospitals, including Dongdan Hospital. In addition, we plan to strengthen and increase the number of outpatient clinics in urban areas to provide medical services to both the general public and cadres.

On August 14, the CPC Central Committee transmitted this report, under document Zhongfa [65] No. 495, to all Central Bureaus, provincial, municipal, and regional party committees, as well as to central government departments and the General Political Department, instructing that all regions must similarly reform hospitals of the “gentleman” type, such as Beijing Hospital, and rectify the serious estrangement from the masses.