Dire Shortage of Pediatricians

Anchor: What parents worry about the most is their child getting sick. They worry not only about the child's condition but also their chances of getting registered, and therefore treated, at hospital.

One recent scene outside Beijing Children's Hospital said it all: hundreds of parents were lining up day and night to make a reservation for their sick child.

Zhang Wan takes a closer look at this disturbing situation.

"We were asked by a relative to get a booking for her but I failed to make it yesterday."
A local man lining up outside Beijing Children's Hospital says he's into his second day of waiting for a registration.

Another parent says she is only now discovering how hard it is to make a booking for her child but it is even tougher for families from outside Beijing.

These people have brought their sick children all the way to the capital only because their local hospital has been unable to make them better. Even so, some of them are still forced to line up for a week to get their children treated.

Spare a thought for Beijing Children's hospital, though. During the recent summer vacation, it has been inundated with more than 9,000 patients a day, nearly double its 5,000 capacity.

Most parents say they would still prefer to line up all day and night if necessary, rather than go to general hospitals, where they are not convinced of the pediatricians' skills.

It all begs the question: why has pediatrics developed so slowly at general hospitals? Chen Xiaohong, the Deputy Director of the China Hospital Information Management Association, says it often comes down to money.

"Nowadays, most of a hospital's income comes from patients' payments for medicine. While an adult needs one tablet, children only need a quarter of a tablet, so the hospital can't sell as much."

The cost of pediatricians is also very high. If hospitals could replace these specialists with general staff they could make three times as much profit. The pediatric wards are therefore the least profitable and many hospitals have replaced them in recent years. Chen Xiaohong again:

"The fact that many hospitals have been forced to shut their pediatric wards shows how policies governed by economic factors can't cope with the mass demand. People need more pediatricians but their numbers are dwindling."

The declining number of pediatrians is a real problem because children are often unable to explain their symptoms clearly and general practitioners therefore have trouble diagnosing them. Pediatricians, however, are much better at diagnosing because of their experience.

In addition, many hospitals pick their doctors according to how much profit they'll bring in. Doctors are therefore forced to accept lower salaries, resulting in fewer qualified doctors willing to specialise in pediatrics any more.

For CRI, I am Zhang Wan.