Chinese doctors' group says students should get checkups at hospitals

The Chinese Medical Doctor Association said on Friday that primary and middle school students in China should receive checkups at hospitals rather than at schools to improve the prevention and treatment of diseases for such groups.

Currently students aged between 6 and 18, or those studying in primary and middle schools, in China receive health checkups organized by teachers at health centers at their schools, according to regulations adopted in 1985, said Yu Hong, director of the association's Adolescence Medicine Committee.

This system could cause many problems, such as failure in disease diagnosis and improper treatment, as many health facilities at schools are not professional enough, she said.

With the increasing incidence of issues such as sexual precociousness, obesity and psychological abnormality among young students, it is becoming urgent to send students to hospitals for annual check-ups, where they can receive more professional medical services, she said.

Wu Di, an endocrinology doctor at Beijing Children's Hospital, said in recent years the number of children suffering diseases such as hypertension and obesity is increasing.

"But in most cases the abnormalities have been spotted by their parents rather than by school doctors," she said.

Wu said it might take a long time before schools can organize students to have health checkups at hospitals, as the health checks are under the charge of education authorities.

Li Minghui, director for health management at Changchun Children's Hospital, said most staff in Changchun's school health facilities are not medical professionals and it is possible that they could fail to detect if students have diseases.