For more on this, let me bring in my colleague Zhao Lingfeng.

Q1. How serious is the pediatrician shortage? Why is there a long wait to see a pediatrician?

Let me show you how alarming the shortage is through an important ratio 0.49, that’s how many pediatricians there are for every one-thousand children under 14-years of age in China.

In other words, there is 1 physician for over 2,000 kids. Well-off countries are usually double that number. In the US, for example, it is 1.46 for every thousand children, which means on average one pediatrician is responsible for less than 700 kids. Based on this ratio, China is short at least 200-thousand pediatricians.

And according to the new plan released by health authorities in China, by 2020, such a ratio should reach 0.69, or 1 pediatrician for every 1,500 kids, so there still won’t be enough pediatricians by then if compared with the standards of developed countries. Also notably, 80 percent of pediatricians are in cities, which means in the countryside, the problem is even more serious. Another number that can also reflect the crisis.

By 2014, there were less than 100 hospitals dedicated to children’s healthcare, that’s an extremely tiny portion among some 25,000 medical institutions across the country. So Qiu Yuan, that explains why the country has to step up efforts to train more pediatricians.

Q2. Why is the problem so serious? What has caused the shortage of pediatricians?

There are just too many realities that could shut an aspiring pediatrician’s dream down. If we take a look at the medical training, pediatricians have to study just like any other physician in the country. That’s 5 years of undergraduate medical studies plus at least three years of residency and clinical practice.

After finally landing a job in a pediatric division at a hospital, a pediatrician will find out he or she has to work many more hours and more intensively than his or her peers. At Beijing Children’s Hospital, each physician is typically responsible for 80 to 100 visits each day. According to an industry report, pediatricians shoulder about 70 percent more workload than other physicians.

And something more realistic, after a hard day and intense work, pediatricians don’t get fairly paid. The average income lags about 25 percent behind what other physicians can make. When compared with the average income, in Beijing, pediatricians earn about 15 percent less than the city's average monthly income, in Shanghai, just slightly better off than the average, and in Guangzhou, pediatricians’ income also falls below the city average.

So after a hard qualification, and heavy workload, it’s just not a very satisfying paycheck. So Qiuyuan, while the country aims to boost the pediatrician headcount, we need to definitely treasure their hard work more.