Lack of pediatricians worsens medical services
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LACK OF PEDIATRICIANS
China, a country with 230 million children, had nearly 61,700 pediatricians in 2008, which comes to about 0.262 pediatrician for every 1,000 children. In the United States, the percentage is 1.45 for 1,000, said Zhu Zonghan, chairman of the China Pediatricians Association, in an interview with the media.
"Only 5,000 pediatricians have been added in China in the past 15 years, that's frustrating," said Zhu, noting that there are only 68 pediatric hospitals across the country, or 0.52 percent of the nation's 13,000 hospitals.
Zhu believed that China's cancellation of pediatrics as an undergraduate major in almost all medical colleges in 1999 stifled the certification of more pediatricians.
From then on, students who wanted to become pediatricians had to study pediatrics in training bases for an extra three years upon graduation of a five-year comprehensive study in colleges of medical sciences.
"The training bases for pediatricians were mainly found in the nation's 68 'overloaded' pediatric hospitals, including BCH," said Zhu.
Warning the shortage of pediatricians tends to be worsening in the coming years, Zhu said the urgent matter on hand is to establish a sound training system.
Liu Guiying, director of the pediatrics department of Anzhen Hospital affiliated to the Capital Medical University in Beijing, however, blamed a fault in government planning for the shortage.
While admitting the severe shortage of pediatricians across the country, Liu mentioned the severe waste of pediatric resources.
"Pediatricians are severely needed, but the government strictly limits the quota of pediatrics staff in hospitals," said Liu, "Even if we need more pediatricians, we do not have any vacancies for them."
Liu added that the difficulty pediatricians face in finding a job in a hospital discourages medical students from choosing to become a pediatrician. This contributed to the shortage. Moreover, Liu revealed that pediatricians lead a life of "low income but high risks."
"I have been in this profession for 27 years, but I earn much lower than doctors in other medical departments," said Liu. "The risks we shoulder are much higher since almost all Chinese families have only one child, which makes parents demand too much when their kids get sick."
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