Contributions and challenges of general practitioners in China fighting against the novel coronavirus crisis

Li, Donald Kwok Tung; Zhu, Shanzhu

For the past decade, China has been making efforts to strengthen its primary healthcare. The country launched a new round of healthcare reform in 2009 to strengthen primary healthcare and established and incorporated general practice and family medicine into the system. The State Council issued the Guidance on Establishing a General Practitioners System in 2011 and Guidance on the Promotion of Family Practice Contract Services in 2016. It aims to extend family practice contract services to the entire population by 2020.2 Shanghai started experimenting with a family doctor programme in 2011. The programme was rolled out to other parts of China during the subsequent years. Under the system, families sign contracts with GPs who offer continuous one-on-one service for patients, providing health consultations and basic medical care.3