The current situation and problems of primary health care personnel since the new round of China's health care reform / 中国卫生政策研究

ABSTRACT

Objective: To analyze the current situation and problems of primary health care personnel since the new round of China's health care reform, and to provide a reference for stabilizing the primary health care personnel. Methods: This paper uses descriptive statistical analysis to calculate Gini coefficient and Theil index in order to ana-lyze the equity in headcount, structure and distribution of primary health care personnel among all health care institu-tions nationwide. Results: Between 2008 and 2013, the number of primary health care personnel significantly in-creased and their quality was improved. Moreover, although the Gini coefficient and Theil index of primary health care personnel continuously decreased in China's eastern, central and western provinces the difference inside the east-ern China is the main factor affecting the overall difference. Conclusions:Not only the problems of insufficient num-ber and loss of personnel still coexist in the primary health care personnel in China, but also there are other issues such as the structural imbalance of professional titles is especially prominent, the urban-rural and regional gaps are still large, etc. The main reasons for these issues are related to the irrational incentive mechanism, the inefficiency of the synergistic effects of administrative staffing policy and some reform measures, etc. This paper suggests further re-forming the income distribution system and improving primary governance capability in order to strengthen the policies to synergically attract and stabilize primary healthcare personnel.