Summary:

Last month, China’s State Council issued a plan titled “Opinions on deepening the cooperation between medical practice and the education sector to further promote the reform and development of medical education" . The plan discusses the structure of medical education as well as setting priorities for fields such as general practice and paediatrics where more doctors are needed.

The "Opinions" will guide the joint actions led by the Ministry of Education (MoE), the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SATCM), and apply to both Western-style medicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). They reflect the education-related priorities set out in last year’s “Healthy China 2030” blueprint, which noted that industrialization, urbanization, an aging population, as well as environmental and life style changes have created new health challenges, and nationwide strategies are needed to solve "major and long-term health-related issues”.

In particular, the key areas covered by the Opinions include:

• Continuing to develop the “5+3” model of medical education, which was introduced in 2015. Under the new system, prospective doctors study for a five-year medical degree and can then choose between three years of clinical training in a hospital or a three-year professional master’s degree course. This shortens the pathway to practice compared to the previous system, where most students studied for a seven-year combined bachelor’s and master’s course before undergoing clinical training for a further two to three years.
• Continuing to develop the complementary "3+2" training pathway for assistant general practitioners (i.e. a three-year diploma in clinical medicine followed by two years of clinical training).
• Strengthening talent training in general practice, paediatrics, and other areas that currently have a shortage of professionals, as well as to significantly improve the student quality in public health, pharmacy, nursing care, rehabilitation and medical technology.
• Improving the policy environment of medical education reform and development, developing a more standardised medical personnel training system which meets the needs of the “Healthy China 2030” policy.
• Encouraging top medical universities to recruit more students to study Clinical Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
• Providing more funds and preferential policies to medical colleges in central and western China.

Analysis by Kevin Prest and Xiaoxiao Liu

In line with “Healthy China 2030” and the "13^th Five Year Plan on health care and medical system reform (2016-2020)" , China has an increasing demand for doctors in several areas. There is a particular shortage of general practitioners, as well as increasing demand for paediatric doctors and better elderly care services. China plans to train more than 150,000 general practitioners by 2020 to better cope with a national shortage, according to the "13th Five-Year National Health Personnel Development Plan (2016-20)" issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission this May.

The government has also announced support and a national plan to improve TCM development, as well as research and development into new TCM products and applications.

There may be opportunities for UK institutions to share their expertise in specific areas, particularly the training of General Practitioners (GPs) where the UK has much more experience than China. There are also opportunities to work together on shared challenges such as care for an increasing elderly population. Another key opportunity in the medical field is in joint research on pharmacy.

Sources:

1. http://english.gov.cn/premier/news/2017/07/10/content_281475719837784.htm

2. http://english.gov.cn/policies/latest_releases/2017/07/11/content_281475721608510.htm 

3. The "Opinions" Full Text in Chinese: http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/2017-07/11/content_5209661.htm

4. The "MoE Guidelines on 5+3 model of Clinical Education" Full Text in Chinese: http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A08/moe_740/s3864/201707/t20170703_308435.html

5. "Healthy China 2030" Full Text in Chinese: http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2016-10/25/content_5124174.htm

6. Outlines of "Healthy China 2030" Infographic in English: http://en.nhfpc.gov.cn/HealthChina2030.html

7. http://www.china.org.cn/china/Off_the_Wire/2017-05/16/content_40828260.htm

8. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-05/23/content_29455089.htm