A lack of doctors has become a bottleneck in the nation's
ambitious plan to reform its community health care system,
according to a proposal from the Jiu San Society to the CPPCC
session.
The authorities pledged in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) that they
would build and improve hospitals at the community level in cities
so residents can enjoy more affordable and convenient healthcare
than at present.
But there are far from enough qualified doctors to work at
community hospitals, amounting to only 2.5 percent of the amount
needed, according to the proposal from the party of university
professors, scientists and social scientists.
There are no more than 4,000 general practitioners, or family
physicians, in China. However, it would take 160,000 such doctors
to meet the medical needs of the country's 500 million urban
residents at community hospitals.
The Jiu San Society highlighted family medicine education in its
proposal. It suggested creating a family medicine major at medical
schools and having medical students intern at community
hospitals.
None of China's 99 medical schools offer such a major, and only
about 20 of them have family medicine as an elective course, it
said.
The party also proposed that family physicians working at
community hospitals receive as much pay as doctors at large
hospitals.
Since the 1950s, China has been building clinics called "health
stops" at the community level in cities and village levels in rural
areas.
But amid the tide of reform sweeping across China in the last
three decades, most of the doctors at these clinics left their
positions because they were not covered by the nation's
government-financed healthcare system, according to the
proposal.
When the government swore to build a community healthcare system
last year, it faced not only a lack of doctors but also a shortage
of public confidence in community hospitals.
In a survey carried out by the popular Web portal Sina.com last
month, more than 70 percent of the 4,000 respondents said they
could not trust doctors at community hospitals to look after their
health.
(China Daily March 7, 2007)