Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    IN a bid to make medical treatment more accessible for residents, Shenzhen will train at least 3,000 general practitioners before 2017 and station them at the city’s network of about 600 community clinics, according to an announcement by Shenzhen’s health commission at a press conference yesterday.

    Shenzhen started to train general practitioners in 2007 and needs to have at least 6,000 to service the city’s 15 million residents, according to a national standard. The city currently has only 2,630 general practitioners, mostly at community clinics.

    With more general practitioners stationed in communities in the future, “residents will go first to see a nearby general practitioner, who will give them advice about where to have further treatment if needed and help them make an appointment with the hospital,” said Li Chuang, a director with Shenzhen’s health commission.

    It will greatly reduce pressure on public hospitals, Li said.

    The plan hopes to encourage would-be hospital goers to first visit a nearby clinic when they need medical treatment.

    Visits to community clinics in Shenzhen should account for at least half of all medical visits by 2017, up from the current one-third, said Li.

    By the end of this year, it’s predicted that 20 percent of all patients that large hospitals receive will have first been seen at community clinics, according to the plan.

    To reduce health care costs, the city will pilot several payment modes, including a flat-fee system, charging by type of illness and charging by number of days spent in the hospital.

    Drug markups as part of total expenses will drop to below 30 percent by 2017 and the cost of medical materials will drop to below 12 percent of total expenses, if the plan is successful.