Paediatricians in short supply in two-child China

 04-Feb-16, Today 

An acute shortage of doctors to treat children is taking a toll on public-health services in China, and the recent policy shift to allow families to have two children will only make matters worse, say experts.

Image: Reuters

The country has a shortfall of at least 200,000 paediatricians, said the National Health and Family Planning Commission. Nearly half of all registered paediatricians left their positions between 2005 and 2011 due to poor pay, long working hours and dim career prospects, its data shows.

“About one-third of the doctors have left our hospital in the past two years and gone to work in pharmaceutical companies or private hospitals that offer better pay,” said Dr Liu Tingliang, from the Shanghai Children’s Medical Centre.

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