Volunteer doctors offer advice on how to boost medical services

A shortage of medical professionals is one of the key problems that is holding back the development of healthcare in Zhugqu county, Gannan Tibet autonomous prefecture, in Northwest China's Gansu province.

And possible solutions came from experts from around China who took part in a volunteer medical program from July 9 to 11.

More than 100 doctors were recently there as part of the "China-hearts" program, which has been organizing them for 10 years, especially in the Tibetan areas of the Sichuan, Gansu, Yunnan and Qinghai provinces, as well as in the Tibet autonomous region.

And, this year, a total of more than 1,000 doctors and volunteers from more than 200 medical institutions around China visited eight counties of the Gannan Tibet autonomous prefecture in southern Gansu to provide free medical services and Zhugqu was one of the bases.

According to Feng Lei, the Party secretary of the county hospital, the main one in Zhugqu, there are no more than 20 college graduates among its 200 or more regular employees. And 55 percent of the key personnel are over 45 years old. The hospital also has a dire need for more pediatricians, obstetricians and gynecologists.