Family doctors are becoming an established part of community in China as more people turn to their general practitioner for medical help rather than make the traditional trip to the hospital.

In Zhejiang Province, an economic powerhouse on China's east coast, nearly a quarter of the population now enjoy medical services in the community.

Latest figures show that for every 15,000 to 20,000 people in Zhejiang, there is one medical service center.

General practitioners with these service centers normally provide first aid and more personal services to families upon request and help promote healthcare and family planning within the community.

"Family doctors play a major role in our life," said Rong Ruqin, who suffers from heart disease. "My granddaughter says they are guardians of our health".

Rong's son and daughter are both working abroad. Her 92-year-old mother, her granddaughter and herself are among the first to benefit from the family doctor service in Zhejiang. Their family doctor, Ma Haiyan, is like a member of the family.

This type of service is mainly designed to benefit the general public and therefore makes little profit. "This is a new attempt to reform China's old health service system," said a health official.

In Zhejiang, a standard agreement with a family doctor includes a free check-up every year, free telephone inquiry service around the clock and a complete medical record of all family members, for 10 yuan (US$1.2) per person. A minor service fee is applicable for house calls and special healthcare instruction.

Some cities do even better. In Ningbo, a port city in Zhejiang, doctors are requested to be at the patient's house within 10 minutes of being called.

With rapid changes in the Chinese lifestyle, cancer, heart, cerebrovascular and respiratory diseases have become the top four killers. Common ailments also include diabetes, high blood pressure and mental diseases.

The on-going medical reform aims to address those changes and provide more personal services to help citizens treat and prevent diseases, said Li Lanjuan, director of the provincial department of public health.

Zhejiang Province, one of the provinces with reported fast economic and social development in China, over the past two decades, has promoted the service to rural areas as well, ensuring timely medical services to 2.3 million farmers in remote areas.

By the end of last year, family doctors in Zhejiang had signed over 195,000 healthcare agreements with urban and rural households.

"By 2005, every 1,000 to 2,000 urbanites will have one full practitioner," Li estimated.

To achieve this goal, Zhejiang Province alone has poured over five million yuan into training doctors and nurses, she said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2002)