BEIJING - China has expanded a health aid program to cover five more major diseases to help impoverished people in rural areas receive treatment, according to the National Health Commission.

The move is part of China's poverty alleviation efforts as the country strives to complete the poverty eradication task this year, the commission said in a circular made public Monday.

Severe mental illness, rheumatic heart disease, bladder cancer, ovarian cancer and kidney cancer are newly added to the reimbursable list, which was expanded to 25 diseases in 2019.

The circular also called on local authorities to add other typical major diseases to the national list based on their respective conditions and residents' need.

The program, launched in 2017, is intended to reduce the financial burdens of poor households by reimbursing patients for treatment expenses.