Medical reform sets good example

MONDAY MARKED THE SECOND CHINESE DOCTORS' DAY, which aims to pay tribute to medical staff nationwide. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang calls for deeper medical reform to further promote the status of medical workers:

It was in 2017 that the State Council, China's Cabinet, decided to establish Chinese Doctors' Day. The same year, Beijing launched a medical reform whereby hospitals can only sell drugs at the same price as they buy them, while doctors were given a "service fee" instead of the past "registration fee", with the new service fee being much higher.

The reform was aimed at reducing the medical costs for patients, while raising the incomes of medical staff.

However, the other positive effect of the reform, namely raising the incomes of medical staff, has rarely been mentioned. Maybe the medical authorities and the doctors and nurses hope to avoid attracting unnecessary attention or misunderstanding.

Such worry is unnecessary. In a healthy society, medical staff deserve higher pay than the average for two reasons: First, they have professional knowledge that they obtain after many years of study and practical work. Second, what they do is to save lives and their contribution is irreplaceable.

A browse at domestic social networks will show that public opinion in general supports high salaries for doctors, nurses, as well as pharmacists, with the only prerequisite being the high incomes are legal. That's where the medical reform is playing a significant role. It allows the medical staff to get higher pay via legal and transparent means.

In the past, doctors used to get very low pay. For example, the registration fee for a doctor with the title of a professor was only 15 yuan ($2.13) per patient, of which he/she would see about half, the other half going to the hospital. That meant doctors would seek other ways to boost their incomes. Some medicine salespersons would bribe the doctors so that they would prescribe more medicine for money. As a result, the patients bought a lot of drugs they did not need, which might even be bad for their health. The doctors who refused this had to survive on relatively low income.

The reform has totally ended this: The doctors can earn more money by seeing more patients, but whatever drugs they prescribe, the payment remains the same. That's why the medical burden of patients could be cut while the income of doctors could magically rise.

More important, that's good for patients, too, because they can get the most appropriate treatment. A good system can benefit all and the medical reform sets a glorious example for other professions.