Continuously strengthen the construction of the contingent of rural doctors | People's Times

Rural doctors bear most of the responsibility for medical care and public health services in rural areas, and are an important part of China's medical and health team, as well as an important force to prevent poverty caused by illness and return to poverty due to illness. By the end of 2020, more than 700,000 rural doctors in China are on the front line. They guard the health of villagers with professionalism and dedication, and become the "health gatekeepers" of the vast number of rural residents.

The party and the state attach great importance to the construction of the contingent of rural doctors. In March this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed when visiting members of the medical and health circles and education circles attending the Fourth Session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference: "Improve the infrastructure conditions at the grass-roots level, implement the treatment of rural doctors, and improve the ability of grass-roots disease prevention and treatment and health management." The 14th Five-Year Plan and the outline of long-term goals for 2035 put forward: "Strengthen the construction of grass-roots medical and health teams" and "improve the urban and rural medical service network". The Law on the Promotion of Rural Revitalization, which came into effect on June 1 this year, also makes clear provisions on the construction of rural medical and health teams. A series of measures from the central to the local level have provided strong support for the construction of software and hardware for rural medical and health care in terms of human, material and financial resources.

Image source @ Xinhua net

"Strengthening the grassroots" is an important goal of medical reform. In recent years, with the continuous advancement of deepening medical reform, the working conditions and treatment of rural doctors in China have been significantly improved. In many places, a large number of standardized village clinics have been transformed and built, and medical equipment and office supplies have been uniformly allocated. By the end of 2020, there were more than 35,000 township health centers and nearly 609,000 village clinics nationwide. Compared with the previous "barefoot doctors", the working environment of rural doctors has undergone earth-shaking changes. Many places have greatly improved the treatment level of rural doctors, and elderly "barefoot doctors" have social security and are more secure for the elderly. The improvement of working conditions has improved the work enthusiasm and professional ability of rural doctors, which is conducive to better providing health services for the vast number of rural residents.

Rural doctors are an important part of the rural talent team and determine the service level and quality of rural public medical care. At present, in some rural areas, especially in remote areas, there are problems such as the lack of high-quality talents, the aging of the talent structure, and the low level of service in the rural doctor team. To strengthen the construction of the rural doctor team, it is necessary to make efforts to improve the level of salary and welfare benefits, improve the career planning and promotion mechanism, improve the training mechanism and improve the professional ability. Data show that more than 700,000 rural doctors provide health services to more than 600 villagers on average. Especially in remote mountainous areas, villagers live scattered, and the door-to-door service of rural doctors often has to cross the mountains and mountains, which is time-consuming and laborious. Only by strengthening institutional guarantees and eliminating worries can we continuously stimulate the enthusiasm of rural doctors and better meet the growing medical and health needs of rural residents.

To strengthen the construction of the rural doctor team, we should further broaden the career development prospects of rural doctors. Rural doctors are part of the medical and health talent team, and they should be given a better career plan, so that their work is more exciting and the position is more attractive. The Law on the Promotion of Rural Revitalization stipulates: "Support county and rural medical and health personnel to participate in training and further training, and establish a career development mechanism that runs through the county and rural areas." With the deepening of medical reform, the "integration" of county and rural health is taking shape, and the "village employment" of rural doctors is becoming more and more common. Village doctors are part of the county and rural tertiary medical and health teams. Only by establishing a career development mechanism that runs from top to bottom can there be more opportunities to break through the "bottleneck" of the profession. At the same time, the training mechanism for rural doctors should be further improved, so that rural doctors can regularly participate in high-level training and further training, improve clinical capabilities and professional levels, so as to better meet the needs of grass-roots medical and health care.

Rural doctors are the guardians of the health of the vast number of rural residents in China and an important force for rural revitalization. Facing the future, as the construction of the rural doctor team becomes more professional and standardized, the health of the villagers will be more secure, and the healthy cornerstone of rural revitalization will be more solid.