BEIJING -- Mobile medical teams will tour through 96 impoverished townships in Tibet this year, a regional health official said here Thursday.

By the end of next year, the teams will cover all townships in the region, Wang Yunting, a senior official with the health department of Tibet autonomous region, said at a press conference.

Due to a small population scattered across the vast lands in Tibet, many farmers and herdsmen living in high altitude and remote areas only receive medical services through such mobile teams.

Medical teams will be made up of staff from village clinics, county and township hospitals and be provided with special medical vehicles and mobile equipment, Wang said.

In the tour, besides treating diseases, they will spend more efforts in offering health counseling and raising awareness, he said.