Pediatric crisis a growing concern

By Lee Michael Hannon

China Daily, February 24, 2011

The parents of 8-year-old Xiaoxiao spent three nights cradling their sick child on a hospital floor desperate to see a doctor. They are just one of the millions of families who seek out pediatric specialists in the hope their child will be cured.

But the healthcare system, designed to look after the welfare of some of the nation's most vulnerable people, is itself in critical condition.

The dire shortage of 200,000 pediatricians was highlighted in the media last week as medical professionals spoke out about the grim prognosis for children's healthcare in China.

Nothing matters more to a parent than the welfare of a child, but when those charged with providing that care say the system is failing, then we all have cause for concern.

The symptoms are clear. China simply does not have enough trained pediatricians now to cope with demand, and is failing to train enough to meet future needs.

But the roots of the problem run much deeper than simply trying to meet the patient-to-doctor ratios of Western countries. Finding a cure for the faltering system requires properly diagnosing the causes.

The numbers speak for themselves. There is a shortage of pediatricians, yet China has only 60 hospitals able to offer this specialist training. Each hospital can only train 30 pediatric doctors a year. It would take more than 100 years to bridge the gap. And the numbers will dwindle further as experienced pediatricians retire.

But it begs the question. Why has the care of children become so problematic in a healthcare system that has undergone continual reform over the past 20 years?

In 1999 China abandoned pediatrics as an undergraduate major, leading to a major shortage of doctors who specialize in treating babies and children, non-specialists are often unable to explain their symptoms clearly.