NAN-F-18
Doctors
Beijing, Jan. 25, 2018 (Xinhua/NAN) China to employ 500,000 General Practitioners (GPs) by year 2030, Zeng Yixin, Deputy Head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission said on Thursday.
Zeng said at present, China has 209,000 GPs only.
He said that China aims to enable every 10,000 residents to have access to five competent general practitioners by 2030.
Zeng said key reforms would be carried out, including increasing salaries and the social status for general practitioners and making the job a more attractive career.
“As GPs usually offer services in local communities, villages and towns, they are more familiar with local people’s living habits and health conditions than a strange hospital in cities.
“Therefore, GPs play a crucial role in local disease prevention and health care, and ease the huge workload of big public hospitals,’’ Zeng said.
A guideline on the development of general practitioners issued by the State Council had said that China plans to have two or three competent general practitioners per 10,000 residents by 2020.
It said medical schools are to open more programmes to train general practitioners, teaching hospitals are encouraged to open general-practice departments.
The report of the 19th Communist Party of China National Congress has stressed improving community-level healthcare services, and strengthening the ranks of general practitioners.
According to the report, in 2015, there were 189,000 general practitioners in China, accounting for only 6.2 per cent of all doctors, with one general practitioner for every 10,000 citizens. (Xinhua/NAN)
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