Barefoot doctors backbone of the system
The rural healthcare system was once a core element of Chinese socialism. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, rural people had access to subsidized health clinics run by "barefoot doctors", who were basically middle-school students trained in first aid. The primitive service, essentially free, played a role in doubling the country's average life expectancy from 35 years in 1949 to 68 years in 1978. When China began its economic reforms in the early 1980s, the system was dismantled as the country attempted to switch to a market-oriented healthcare system. The Ministry of Health has moved to send roughly 5,500 doctors and nurses from Chinese cities to the countryside this year to help treat rural patients, introduce new facilities and train local medical staff.
China Features
(China Daily 05/16/2007 page20)
