China over-reliant on hospitals, needs more family doctors: WHO

China’s healthcare system is overly reliant on large, over-burdened hospitals, which will struggle to cope with a spike in diseases linked to the fast-ageing population, the World Health Organization said on Saturday. “As China’s health challenges … continue to mount, with an aging population, so too will the demands on the country’s health system, along with the costs,” WHO China representative Bernhard Schwartlander said in a commentary, pointing to rising rates of cancer and cardiovascular disease. “It is simply not sustainable to meet these challenges in a health system that relies on hospitals.” China has been trying to overhaul its healthcare system, including promoting local, grassroots medical facilities and pledging to raise the number – and quality – of local GPs.

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China over-reliant on hospitals, needs more family doctors: WHO