The General Office of the State Council, China's Cabinet, recently issued a guideline on establishing a modern hospital management system, putting forward a series of measures to promote modern hospitals throughout the country.

According to the document, the administration and management of hospitals should be separated, and the governments' supervisory responsibilities should be reasonably defined in order to guarantee the right of public hospitals' to self-operation and management.

An accountability system will be established to deal with any serious violations of the rules and regulations, such as arbitrary charging, serious medical mistakes and other major incidents.

The top public hospitals should all participate and take the lead in the construction of a medical treatment partnership system to further improve medical services.

The document also stipulates that hospitals should explore the introduction of an annual salary system, and hospitals are forbidden from assigning any profit-making responsibilities to medical personnel.

The president of a hospital will take full responsibility for its medical treatments, teaching and scientific research as well as the administrative management of the hospital.

In addition, how satisfied patients are with the service they receive will be included in the performance evaluations of medical personnel, which may be directly connected to their salary and even promotion, the document says.