Abstract Currently in China, there exist large disparities in the development between urban and rural areas, and also between different villages and towns at the county level, which is especially true in the field of health care. In close conjunction with the local finances, the equalization should be carried out systematically, scientifically, and step by step on the foundation of an intensive study on the differences in economical development, the medical service demand of the public, and the development of the medical service in all kinds of areas. Taking the County of Songzi in Hubei Province as its survey region, this paper first of all makes a detailed assess on the standard of the equalization of the medical service by way of combining accessibility analysis (making use of the shortest transport time and the accessibility model) with spatial equity analysis (utilizing global clustering and local clustering model); then the paper identifies the shortage of medical service and puts the research results via GIS. Regarding the clusters including administrative villages and neighborhood committees as the basic research unit, this paper finally comes to the conclusion that the standard of equalized access to medical service in the County of Songzi is closely linked with the geographic conditions, economic performance and transportation in each village and town: (1) in the region of one county, the standard of equalized access to medical service displays marked spatial variability, decreasing progressively from the central urban district to neighbor areas; (2) the spatial distribution of the medical service equalization standard is similar to that of the economic development; (3) it is more accessible for the cluster centers and the areas with transport corridors, and the improvement of transportation will observably lower the coefficient of spatial separation in favor of promoting the process of equalization.
2012, Vol. 27 
