Pediatrician shortage highlighted

There are 135,524 paediatricians in China, four doctors for every 10,000 children. 

The number is far from enough and there are big differences both of quantity and quality of pediatricians across regions, according to research released on Monday.

“A good training system is important to reduce the gap between doctors in developed regions and underdeveloped regions,” said Dr Sun Kun, president of Shanghai’s Xinhua Hospital and leader of the research, which covered over 13,000 hospitals nationwide.

“Many grassroots pediatricians, especially those in western and remote areas, don’t receive any provincial or national level courses,” he said. “Internet-based training, especially long-distance online training, is the best way forward."

In addition to the lack of pediatricians, there are not enough pediatric hospitals, which have better diagnosis and treatment of children’s diseases than comprehensive hospitals.

Improving the income and welfare of young pediatricians is another challenge. About 10 percent of pediatricians quit their job in the past three years and 55 percent of them were under 35 years old. Heavy workload and low income were the main reasons.

“Our team will begin further research in 2020 and whether fewer young pediatricians quit their jobs will be important to show the effects of government’s new policies,” Sun said.