The head of China's new National Medical Security Administration has said the body will help the government better ensure medical security and promote healthcare reform.

Setting up the administration was a major decision made by China's top leadership that aims to ensure people's access to medical care and improve the population's overall health, Hu Jinglin said on Thursday morning at a ceremony in Beijing to mark the establishment of the administration.

The new body will integrate duties related to medical insurance supervision that were previously spread among various government departments, including the ministries of human resources and social security, and civil affairs, and the now defunct National Health and Family Planning Commission.