A mainland's doctors' association has called on the government to make a major increase in doctors' salaries before the introduction of a new national training system.
Lu Jun, general secretary of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, which safeguards doctors' rights, also called on doctors to make their voices heard. Speaking at an endocrinology forum in Beijing last week, she said it was essential that doctors had pay rises now as they were suffering financially and would be affected further by the Standardised Training of Resident Doctors system soon to be introduced nationwide.
'All doctors should unite and tell the government how much money we deserve,' she said. 'We hope to persuade the authorities to pay us a salary that would give us a basic living, then we can devote ourselves fully to medicine.'
Junior doctors at public hospitals in major cities, like Shanghai, earn about 3,000 yuan (HK$3,600) a month in their first few years, while experienced doctors in their 40s are paid less than 10,000 yuan.
With poor financial support from the government, hospitals and doctors have turned to illicit practices to support themselves, including over-prescription of drugs and ordering unnecessary tests. This has left patients with soaring medical bills and fuelled tension between the public and the medical profession.
The Ministry of Health announced last month that the training scheme would be rolled out across the mainland soon, although it did not specify an exact date.