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Xinhua: China Faces Serious Shortage of Pediatricians

China faces a shortage of pediatricians. With the launch of the new two-child policy which is replacing the one-child policy, Chinese parents are wondering where they will find pediatricians for their children. 

In 2012, there were only 0.43 pediatric specialists for each 1,000 children in China, or only 96, 000 pediatricians for the 220 million Chinese children who were less than 14 years old. By comparison, in the United States, the ratio is 1.46 pediatricians for every 1,000 children. Because of the shortage of pediatricians, many Chinese hospitals have had to shut down their pediatric departments. As China has just replaced its one-child policy with the two-child policy, the expected dramatic increase in births will make the pediatrician shortage even more severe. 

Because they have longer working hours and have a higher work load, pediatricians encounter more medical disputes with parents. In addition, pediatricians earn less income compared to doctors in other fields because children need smaller doses of medication. [Editor’s note: The Chinese regime encourages doctors and hospitals to sell extra prescriptive drugs to patients. The doctors prescribe an abundance of expensive drugs whether their patients need them or not. It is a secret rule in China, which is, nevertheless, fairly well known to, “Use drugs to get income for doctors.”] 

Source: Xinhua, January 16, 2016
http://www.sn.xinhuanet.com/society/2016-01/16/c_1117796882.htm