Report: China’s health indicators higher than international average

The doctor examines the villagers in Zhangjiakou, North China’s Hebei Province. Photo: IC

The main health indicators of Chinese people are better than the average level of those in middle- and high-income countries, according to a report submitted by the State Council to the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) on Sunday. The number of doctors in China has reached 3.607 million, and the annual number of diagnosis and treatments reached 8.31 billion by the end of 2018, an increase of 80.4 percent and 290.1 percent respectively over 1998, showing that China is supporting the world’s largest medical and health service system, said the report. The Lancet, an international authoritative medical journal, ranked 195 countries and regions in terms of medical quality and accessibility. It pointed out that China ranked 110th in 1995, 60th in 2015, and 48th in 2016, indicating that China is one of the most progressive countries in the world.

The report, however, revealed that doctors in China are excessively concentrated in first-class hospitals in big cities, and the number of doctors at the grassroots level in urban and rural areas, especially in rural areas and remote mountainous areas, is very limited. In 2018, there were 2.59 doctors per 1,000 people in China compared to more than four in Germany, Austria and other developed countries. There are only 1.8 doctors per 1,000 people in rural areas. The number of doctors in rehabilitation, pediatrics, emergency department, psychiatry and other specialties is still relatively small. The State Council will improve the professional quality of medical workers as well as the incentive and guarantee mechanism for doctors, and enhance the quality of medical services. It is important to build a harmonious doctor-patient relationship and revise the law on medical practitioners, the report says.

(Global Times)