China's 2012 health budget grows

BEIJING - China's Ministry of Health reported Monday that its 2012 budget will amount to 80 billion yuan (about 12.69 billion US dollars), showing a year-on-year increase of 13.3 billion yuan.

According to a statement released by the ministry, the extra money will be mainly used in medical services, education and scientific research.

Medical services will get the lion's share, 10.9 billion yuan, in order to improve the capacity of major clinical departments of public hospitals in line with the country's medical reform drive.

Meanwhile, 236 million yuan will be allocated to education, 1.7 billion to research projects, which include the development of new drugs and the prevention and control of major infectious diseases such as AIDS and viral hepatitis.