China's solution to healthcare woes: more doctors

Shanghai

CHINA will almost double the number of its general doctors by 2020, trim its public sector and improve technology as it seeks to fix a healthcare system plagued by snarling queues and poor rural services, its main administrative authority has said.

China's fast-growing healthcare market is a magnet for global drug makers, medical device firms and hospital operators, all looking to take a slice of a healthcare bill expected to hit US$1 trillion by 2020, according to McKinsey & Co. "Healthcare resources overall are insufficient, quality is too low, our structures are badly organised and service systems fragmented. Parts of the public hospital system have also become bloated," China's State Council said in a five-year roadmap announced late on Monday.