The rural cooperative medical insurance system initiated in 2003 to offer farmers basic healthcare now covers about 86 percent of the rural residents of the pilot areas, Health Ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an said yesterday.

"By September 30, about 726 million farmers had joined the scheme, accounting for 86 percent of the rural population in the pilot areas," Mao told reporters.

The system covers 2,448 counties, county-level cities and city districts, or approximately 85.5 percent of rural areas, Mao said.