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.