The number of nurses in China fails to meet demand as one nurse has to watch over three hospital beds, said the Ministry of Health in a newly-issued development outline on nursing.

According to the planning and development outline on China's nursing, a survey by the ministry of over 400 hospitals nationwide shows that the nurse to sickbed ratio is 0.33:1 on average, and over 95 percent patients rely on relatives during their in-hospital period.

It pointed out that some hospitals even hire nurses on a temporary basis to reduce human cost, which hinders the development of nursing.

The outline, however, said that China's nursing sector has seen rapid progress in recent years. By the end of 2004, the number of nurses had reached over 1.3 million, accounting for 29.8 percent of the total of medical staff in China.

Nearly 26 percent of them have college diplomas, which underlines the transition of nursing education from purely secondary education to a multi-level education system including secondary and higher education, said the outline.

It said nurses with college and above-level diplomas should be no less than 30 percent by 2010 by improving nursing education.

It also said China will endeavor to establish a scientific and effective nursing quality appraisal system to improve clinical nursing quality.

(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2005)