The National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC)held a teleconference in Beijing on August 27 to launch a project of standardized training for residential doctors nationwide. According to the conference, starting this year, central finance will use special funds to support standardized training, with each person receiving subsidies of 30,000 yuan ($4,883) a year. Two-thirds of the special fund will be used in subsidizing residential doctors participating in the training; one-third will be used in subsidizing the training base and teachers. A total of 50,000 clinical medical graduates will be recruited this year to train in the base.

The standardized training for residential doctors is not only the required path for a qualified clinician, but also a fundamental solution to upgrade healthcare service quality. Last year, seven ministries, including the NHFPC, released the Guidance on Establishing the Standardized Training System for Residential Doctors. At the beginning of this year, China officially launched preparation work.

Recently, the NHFPC formulated a series of regulations and standards to stipulate the qualifications of the training base, the duration of training, as well as the training content and method, which offers guidance for training work carried out nationwide. It is also the first time central finance has offered financial support to residential doctor standardized training. The income of the trained doctors is paid by central and local finance, entrusted units and the training base.

The NHFPC has launched the certification work for the first batch of 450 training bases that are tertiary A-level hospitals. Each training base’s yearly recruitment should be no less than 100 trainees.

According to the people in charge of the Department of Health Science, Technology and Education at the NHFPC, these training bases are local hospitals with the best medical level and condition.

The training quota will allocate more to departments of general practice, pediatrics, psychiatry and local healthcare institutions. The training bases in the developed areas should annually recruit trainees from remote areas, ethnic areas and impoverished areas, with annual recruitment amount no less than 10 percent that of developed areas.