Legislation to better protect doctors

China's top legislature passed a law on Friday protecting the lawful rights and interests of physicians.

Song Fang, an official from the National People's Congress Standing Committee's Legislative Affairs Commission, said the top purpose of the legislation is to protect the rights and interests of physicians.

"It specifies that physicians are protected by law, and their dignity and personal safety shall not be infringed," Song said.

The law clarifies that physicians who voluntarily provide first aid to the public that results in harm to the beneficiary shall not bear civil liability.

If the patient or close relatives cannot be reached when attending to seriously injured or ill patients, medical measures can be performed immediately with the approval of the person in charge of the medical institution or the authorized person in charge, according to the law.

Given the rising number of cases in recent years in which doctors provided emergency rescue assistance to members of the general public, physicians are encouraged to actively participate in first aid services including situations presenting themselves on public transportation, it added.

The legislation was adopted at the closing meeting of a session of the Standing Committee of the NPC, the nation's top legislature, after three reviews.

The law, with seven chapters and 67 articles, protects the lawful rights and interests of physicians and ensures the implementation of the Healthy China strategy, which sets targets for improving healthcare for the people.

"Provisions ... clarify supportive measures in terms of remuneration, vacations, team building, rewards, good practice environments, work safety and a medical risk sharing system."

Moreover, it makes provisions for the registration and examination of qualifications, practice rules, and training and assessment for physicians.

The law upgrades the lowest education background required to participate in the physician qualification examination from technical secondary school to junior college.

It clarifies that doctors must not produce false medical certification documents and not perform unnecessary examinations and treatments on patients.