BEIJING--The Chinese central government has allocated another 18.4 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) to a subsidy fund to support the nation's medical reform, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced Tuesday.

The new fund has brought the total amount of subsidies allocated by the central government to 171.7 billion yuan so far this year, the MOF said in a statement on its website.

Of the 18.4 billion yuan, nearly 40 percent of it will be used for capacity building of maternal and child care service centers, first-aid centers and other public health institutions which specialize in the treatment of T.B. and leprosy.

More than 4 billion yuan will be used to subsidize the purchase of medical equipment by county-level traditional Chinese medicine hospitals. Meanwhile, 3.4 billion yuan will be used to subsidize the medical costs of people in both urban and rural areas.