China reports rapid growth in number of medical doctors

China had over 3.86 million medical doctors at the end of 2019, marking a significant increase on previous years, with particularly rapid growth in the number of community-level practitioners, a Chinese health official said on Aug 19.

Guo Yanhong, an official with the National Health Commission, said at a press conference that the number of doctors in China had grown by 830,000 since 2015, marking a 27.2 percent increase.

These included more than 1.43 million practicing at community-level medical and health institutions, an increase of 30.4 percent from 2015, the official said.

The figures show that the development of community-level doctors has outpaced the overall development trend, Guo said.

Aug 19 marked the 2020 edition of Doctors' Day, the third such event in China.