China to train 500,000 GPs in 12 years

China will train about half a million general practitioners over the next 12 years to help improve healthcare and control rising medical expenditure, according to the country's top health authority.

The country plans to have five general practitioners available for every 10,000 residents in China by 2030, Zeng Yixin, deputy head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said on Thursday. That means the country will have to increase the number of general practitioners from a current 209,000 to more than 700,000.

"We are confident that the gap will be bridged with the efforts of the whole of society," Zeng said at a news conference on improving education and training of general practitioners and making the profession more attractive.