Consultation-liaison psychiatry in China

Ji, Jianlin; Ye, Chenyu

In 2002 Professor Desen Yang, [9] a renowned senior psychiatrist from Hunan Province, wrote about his vision for the coming decade: 'It's necessary to expand the mental health workforce in the thousands of general hospitals around the country at the county level or above and establish departments of psychological medicine or psychiatry within these hospitals. Mental health clinicians at general hospitals should be composed of psychiatrists (with 5-year medical degrees) and well-trained psychotherapists, and their numbers should increase from the current 100 individuals to at least 1000 individuals.' In 2003 the Ministry of Health promulgated the China Mental Health Plan (2002-2010) [10] which stated that 'General hospitals shall establish departments of psychology (outpatient) or departments of psychiatry (outpatient).' The plan also set targets for rates of recognition of depression in district-level and municipal-level general hospitals and in county-level general hospitals: by 2005 the recognition rates were expected to be 40% and 30%, respectively and by 2010 the recognition rates were expected to reach 60% and 50%, respectively.