China has announced it will extend medical services to all its citizens by 2020, taking aim at a healthcare system long derided as creaking and inadequate. The reforms aim to boost funding and oversight to provide "safe, effective, convenient and affordable" health services for all 1.3 billion citizens, according to a plan approved by the State Council, China's Cabinet. Under the reforms, hospitals and clinics in the poor countryside and less developed cities would be improved and the price of essential medicines used by public hospitals and clinics would be capped.