Countryside doctors deserve due respect and recompense

A COLLECTIVE RESIGNATION letter recently submitted by 36 village doctors in Zhusha town, Tongxu county, in Central China's Henan province, has attracted extensive attention. Beijing News comments:

In the letter, these village doctors complained that "we are unable to live on our wages due to delayed and reduced payments". In response to the letter, the Tongxu county government admitted there were delays in disbursing funds such as subsidies for basic public health services, but it denied any deduction of the rural cooperative medical expenses and overworking the village doctors as reported in the letter.

However, after the government responded another collective resignation letter submitted by 28 village doctors in another town of the county was also made public. The higher level health authorities in Kaifeng city have now launched an investigation.