Chen Zhu became China's new minister of health on Friday, taking the helm during a time when the nation is mulling over medical reform to revamp its botched medical system.

The National People's Congress Standing Committee formally approved his nomination by the State Council, making the 54-year-old Jiangsu native the second non-Communist Party member to be given such a key appointment since 1972.

The first - Wan Gang, a senior leader of the Zhigong Party - was made science and technology minister in April.

The appointment showed the country was moving towards a more democratic system based on merit, not political affiliation, Wan was quoted as having said by reports following his appointment.

In recent years, the CPC Central Committee has issued a series of directives to fill more senior posts with academics and non-Party members.

Chen will replace Gao Qiang, 63, who stepped in when the former Health Minister Zhang Wenkang was sacked after the SARS crisis.

Once a self-taught barefoot doctor during his five-year reeducation in the countryside during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), Chen made his first great leap forward when he obtained a master's degree in medical science from Shanghai Second Medical University in 1981. This degree was followed by his doctorate in science from the Institute of Hematology, Hospital Saint-Louis, University Paris VII, in France. He had not completed any formal undergraduate study previously.

Before his latest appointment, Chen was vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Chinese Human Genome Centre in Shanghai and the Shanghai Institute of Haematology at Ruijin Hospital.