A Chinese official has called for improving the educations of the country's six million medical workers as only 1.1 percent of them have obtained a doctorate or master's degree.

At Friday's seminar to mark the 57th World Health Day, officials from the Ministry of Health gave a gloomy picture of the country's human resources in the medical sector.

By the end of 2005, China had 6.35 million medical workers, including 4.46 million technical staff, 1.94 million licensed physicians, 1.35 million registered nurses, and 920,000 medical staff working in rural areas.

In China a licensed physician need only obtain a bachelor's degree to treat illness.

In rural areas, especially in the underdeveloped western region, there is a lack of professional medical workers, said Vice-Minister Chen Xiaohong, of the Ministry of Health.

In recent years, the government has taken measures to encourage medical staff to work in the countryside and the underdeveloped areas.

Dr. Henk Bekedam, representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in China, also speaking at the seminar, said this year's theme is "Human Resources for Health", which highlights the issues of international migration of health professionals.

Currently, there are 59 million medical workers throughout the world, leaving a shortage of 4 million, according to WHO figures.

(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2006)