Ten years into a national program aimed at boosting medical services in China, officials have met in the southeastern city of Sanming to review progress. The central government has hailed Sanming's reform model as an example for the rest of the country. CGTN has explained how wider coverage and lower prices for medications were putting more patients' minds at rest. But what about those who prescribe these medications; have the reforms impacted their lives in any way? 

Sanming wasn't included in the first batch of cities to test China's ambitious medical reform program in 2009.

It was three more years before it had the chance. But when it finally did, the local authorities grabbed it with both hands. Their bold measures captured the central government's attention.

One of its greatest achievements over the past seven years was decommercializing processes in public hospitals.

It's not news in any country that pharmaceutical companies would provide doctors with kickbacks for selling their drugs. Some doctors in Sanming, like doctors in many other cities, used to rely heavily on this kind of grey income. But that has changed since the city implemented the work-point system.

Le Shaozhong, associate chief physician at Shaxian County Hospital, says those who take kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies will be severely punished, so doctors have agreed it's not worth it.

Sanming has implemented the work-point system over the past three years.

A doctors'salary now depends not just on rank but also on the quality of their work, including visiting patients in the countryside.

China's National Health Commission says this will help re-establish the credibility of public hospitals.

Ten years into China's new medical reform program, cities like Sanming have found their own ways to offer affordable medical care while ensuring that doctors and other medical personnel aren't losing out, and their efforts are gradually being recognized and emulated across the country.