Can 500 mln Chinese really access a family doctor?

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Chinese health authorities have defended an official’s claim that “500 million people in China have access to family doctors,” after the figure was widely mocked as unrealistic.

An associate inspector from the National Health and Family Planning Commission first gave the figure at a public forum in Beijing on Sunday, amid ongoing reform of China’s health system aimed at giving the public more access to trained medical professionals across the country.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the commission said the figure was based on patient records.

It added that “family doctors” in China are different from those in Western countries. In the Chinese context, family doctors are responsible for managing chronic diseases, providing health advice, accepting consultations and arranging for doctors from mainstream hospitals to take turns practicing at community clinics.

“Every elderly person knows what a family doctor is,” an official from a Beijing hospital told the city’s Science and Technology Daily. “The service is primarily for the elderly and patients with chronic diseases.”

Villagers sign up for family doctor services in Bengbu City, east China’s Anhui Province, November 26 /VCG Photo

The Chinese public has poured scorn on the 500-million figure since Sunday, with most doubting that the family doctor service is so common.

“Where and with whom can I sign up for this service? How much does it cost?” a netizen with the screen name Quanqiuying asked on thepaper.cn.

“There are signs promoting such services at the entrances of many neighborhoods, but I don’t think they really work,” said Xieyangwenrou on the same website.

Not all have been so scathing.

“There is a community clinic in our neighborhood that is really convenient for the elderly,” according to nnhyui.

“We should support moves to make more doctors available. Please don’t hesitate to implement them,” said Linglinglinlin5.

A family doctor ‍serves an elderly at her home in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, October 14. /Chinanews Photo

China launched a healthcare reform campaign in 2009 with the goal of training 400,000 general practitioners including family doctors by 2020. Authorities said it would solve the problem of limited and unbalanced distribution of medical resources that can make trying to get seen in a Chinese hospital a frustrating experience.

However, it seems the campaign has a long way to go.

The associate inspector from the Health and Family Planning Commission said at the forum that the campaign was still in its “initial stages.”