Parents crowd the front counter at the Foshan Maternity and Infant Hospital in Guangdong Province trying to register their children to see a doctor. — CFP

　　WITH a potential baby boom looming after China scrapped its one-child policy, glaring gaps in pediatric care are becoming more acute.

　　The problem: too many patients and too few qualified doctors.

　　To address the crisis, eight medical universities in China are restoring undergraduate majors in pediatric care, which had been suspended for 17 years.

　　In Shanghai, it’s common to see long waiting lines in the pediatric departments of hospitals on ordinary days. During seasons rife with infections, the waiting rooms become overrun with sick children and their patients.

　　When variants of the bird flu virus hit Shanghai this winter, four local pediatric hospitals reported handling a combined 47,000 patients during three days of the Spring Festival holiday. Average waiting time was up to six hours.

　　For parents like Diana Zhang, a 32-year-old mother of a four-year-old boy, sitting in a waiting room for hours with a sick child is intolerable. She had to endure the misery of it at Xinhua Hospital recently.

　　“It was torture to sit there, waiting for the doctor, with my coughing son in my arms and a crowd of children around me crying and rasping,” said Zhang.

　　Prefer to give a miss

　　Last year, the number of pediatricians in China dropped to 100,000 from 105,000 five years ago, according to China Health Statistics. That meant an average 0.43 pediatrician for every 1,000 children, far below the World Health Organization standard of 1.5 pediatricians per 1,000 children.

　　Many medical students prefer to give pediatrics a miss. They see it as a career of demanding work, low wages, high stress and limited promotion opportunities.

　　“Though many Chinese people think of pediatrics as an easy medical field, that’s hardly the case,” said Dr I-ChunHu, vice chancellor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

　　In fact, child health care can be very difficult because babies and toddlers can’t describe their symptoms, and parents who bring them for treatment often get hysterical with concern.

　　It is also true that the revenue of pediatric clinics is usually much less than that of other departments in the hospital system because fewer drugs are dispensed, and the sale of preions forms a large chunk of income.

　　The current crunch in pediatric care means that many doctors in the field have to work long hours, especially during infectious seasons. That crimps their time for research, which is considered key element to promotion in hospitals.

　　The National Health and Family Planning Committee in late February announced the restoration of undergraduate majors in pediatrics at eight universities, including China Medical University, Chongqing Medical University and Harbin Medical University.

　　Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine was ahead of the pack, reinstating that major four years ago.

　　Hu at Jiao Tong said canceling the degree nationwide in 1999 was merely an attempt to bring China’s medical education system in line with international practices. It was never a major reason for the declining number of pediatricians in China, he said, noting that medical students have always been free to choose pediatrics in graduate studies.

　　Medical professionals say they hope restoring the undergraduate major will encourage more students to stay in that specialty.

　　Jiao Tong had hoped to recruit a maximum 40 pediatric-oriented students a year to the new major after it was restored in 2012, but the school has managed only a combined 135 students so far. Despite that, the university plans to try to expand enrollment of students to 60 this year.

　　It is resting its hopes on young people like Zhao Zhicong, 22, who was enrolled in the pediatric program in 2012. Zhao, now a senior, said he has always been interested in pediatrics but still harbors some doubts about it as a lifelong career.

　　“As a child with poor health, I was a frequent visitor to hospitals,” he said. “I always regarded pediatricians as the most respected people in the world. But that doesn’t mean they are widely respected by the public at large. It’s frustrating to hear in the media about how pediatricians don’t have particularly good career prospects. Let’s hope it’s a sign of better times ahead.”

　　Zhao said it would probably take him another 10 years to complete master’s and doctorate degrees, and then do his internship before becoming a fully qualified pediatrician.

　　“I am betting that things will improve in 10 years,” he said.

　　Guo Chong, 26, is following in her mother’s footsteps. The daughter of a pediatrician said she was aware of the demanding work of that vocation, but decided to make it her major in graduate study three years ago.

　　“I did question my choice when I saw some of my high-school classmates earning big salaries in the finance industry,” Guo said. “I talked it over with my mother, and she helped me realize that a sense of accomplishment can’t always be measured in terms of income.”

　　Guo said she was deeply impressed by the number of patients who would arrive early at the hospital so they could get appointments to see her mother in particular.

　　“It shows that parents have great trust in her skills, and it’s hard to put a value on that,” said Guo.

　　Leave an open door

　　In addition to training more pediatricians, the health system needs to stanch the outflow of children’s doctors, according to Ding Jie, vice president of Peking University No. 1 Hospital. Too many of them are leaving the field to make more money elsewhere.

　　Indeed, the profile of pediatric medicine needs to be raised to the prominence it deserves, according to Cai Wei, president of Shanghai Institute of Pediatrics.

　　“Without reform in the current system, students who choose pediatrics as a major may leave the specialty later,” he said.

　　Pediatric students at Jiao Tong have the freedom to shift to other majors at any time during their studies.

　　“We want to leave that door open so that they aren’t afraid of being trapped if they enter that room,” said the university’s Vice Chancellor Hu. “What we need are only pediatricians who are interested in this career.”

　　原文链接：http://www.shanghaidaily.com/feature/Is-there-a-doctor-in-the-house-Too-few/shdaily.shtml