Amid a worsening imbalance in access to health care between rural and urban areas, the central government has rolled out a series of measures to boost conditions for rural village doctors.A recently released document will create a program to nurture rural clinics and give village doctors training at least twice a year.The program will also allow rural doctors to work at municipal and provincial hospitals and raise subsidies for village doctor practices.Since China’s reform era, the number of medical practitioners in rural areas has taken a dramatic decline.In the southwestern region of Guangxi alone, some 7,400 village doctors left their jobs between 2009 and 2011, according to Qian Xueming, a top government advisor.According to a report by Capital Medical University, more than one-quarter of the villages in Beijing’s rural areas lacked a clinic in 2012.The State Council has announced a target to have one doctor for every 1,000 people in rural areas by 2020, with each to have at least attained a degree from a vocational medical school.For Caixin Online, this is Diana Bates.
