LHASA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The central government has spent 66 million yuan (10.4 million U.S. dollars) to improve medical facilities in the southwest China's Tibet autonomous region this year.

The spending has enabled 27 hospitals across Tibet to purchase equipment or renovate their buildings, the regional health administration said in a Tuesday press release.

The spending, allocated by the central treasury, averages 2 million yuan for each of Tibet's 21 county hospitals for traditional Tibetan medicine and 4 million yuan for each of its six traditional Tibetan hospitals in the Shannan, Nagqu, Ngari, Xigaze, Nyingchi and Qamdo prefectures, the document said.

China is determined to improve medical facilities in Tibet and sustain Tibetan herbal medicine, a 2,300-year-old discipline still popular in the plateau region.

The regional government has also earmarked 10 million yuan annually to foster the development of traditional Tibetan medicine.

China's total investment in Tibet's medical sector topped 200 million yuan between 2006 and 2010.