Recently, the epidemic has rebounded in a large area across the country, with Shanghai and Jilin being the most affected. The public has paid unprecedented attention to the pressure resistance of the medical system. Medical resources have played an important role in the process of anti epidemic. Based on the indicators of doctors and nurses, beds, hospitals, the number and scale of pharmaceutical listed enterprises and health financial expenditure, we have made an international comparison from five dimensions. At the same time, we have compared the medical resources of 31 provinces, municipalities and 36 key cities, and drawn a “map” of China’s medical resources, in order to provide a data basis for the subsequent improvement and balance of the interregional medical system.
I. international comparison
After years of development, China’s medical and health system has made considerable progress, but it is undeniable that there is still a gap with developed economies, especially the relative shortage of medical personnel. According to the World Health Organization’s 2020 world nursing report, in 2018, the number of nurses per 1000 people in the world was 3.7, including 8.3 in the Americas and 7.9 in Europe. In contrast, in China, the number of registered nurses per 1000 people increased from 2.9 in 2018 to 3.5 in 2021, still not reaching the global average in 2018. As a typical city with rich medical resources, Beijing has 6.9 nurses per thousand, which is still lower than the European average level in 2018.
II. Inter provincial comparison
First, Beijing’s medical resources are leading in the country, and the number of medical staff per capita is obviously “rolling” other provinces; Class III and class A hospitals converge, but the per capita beds are slightly insufficient.
Second, the East China provinces represented by Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai have relatively abundant medical staff per capita; Hospitals and beds are “sufficient in total and less per capita”.
Third, the three eastern provinces and the northwest provinces represented by Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia have a relatively small number of medical care per capita and relatively sufficient beds per capita.
Fourth, North China, represented by Tianjin and Hebei, has more doctors and fewer nurses; The southwest provinces represented by Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan have more nurses and fewer doctors.
Fifth, the coastal provinces represented by Guangdong and Fujian are “short of doctors, nurses and beds” per capita due to the large permanent population.
Sixth, the distribution of biomedical listed enterprises basically shows the characteristics of “more in the East and less in the west”. Zhejiang (40), Guangdong (31) and Jiangsu (29) are in the top three, followed by Beijing and Shanghai, with more than 20 listed enterprises; There are no listed pharmaceutical enterprises in Qinghai and Ningxia, and Gansu (2) and Xinjiang (1) rank last.
Seventh, the total amount of financial expenditure in the medical field is basically in direct proportion to the population. Due to a large number of central transfer payments and sparse population, the per capita expenditure in the western provinces is high.
III. comparison of key cities
Medical resources such as doctors, nurses and beds in most key cities are better than the national average. In the central and western provinces, there is great differentiation within the province, and the “siphon effect” of the provincial capital cities is significant, while the internal development of the eastern provinces is more balanced, so the medical resources of some central and western provincial capital cities are better than the economically developed “star cities”. For example, in the three first tier cities of Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen, the number of doctors and nurses per capita ranks in the middle and lower reaches. Among them, Shenzhen is at the bottom. The number of doctors and nurses per 1000 people is 2.3 and 2.6 respectively, which is significantly lower than the national average. Kunming, Taiyuan, Jinan, Zhengzhou, Xining and other cities in the central and western regions have abundant medical resources. Both doctors and nurses rank among the top 10 in China. Changsha, a new first tier city, has 7.7 hospital beds per 1000 people and 32.6 hospitals per million people, ranking fourth and seventh respectively, while the corresponding data of Shenzhen are 3.3 and 8.3.
IV. dynamic zeroing is still necessary. At the same time, it is necessary to effectively ensure the living materials and normal medical needs of residents. After a comparative analysis of China’s medical resources, it is found that there are no conditions for “coexistence” at present, and the implementation of the general policy of “dynamic zeroing” can ensure the smooth operation of China’s medical system and the normal order of social life.
First, China’s medical resources are not abundant as a whole, and the distribution is extremely uneven. In addition, the vaccination rate of the elderly is insufficient. If it is not “dynamically cleared” in time, once a large-scale rebound and social psychological panic are formed, the medical system will face the risk of breakdown. Second, in the face of the epidemic, we need to calculate the general ledger and life account. In the face of a huge population base, the absolute number deserves more attention. Third, China’s “dynamic zeroing” is not to pursue zero infection, but to quickly and accurately find and solve one case by one, so as to keep the bottom line of no large-scale rebound of the epidemic. In the future, on the basis of adhering to the same strategy, we need to improve tactics, implement epidemic prevention policies more solidly and carefully, avoid secondary disasters caused by insufficient supply of living materials and suspension of normal medical treatment, and effectively ensure residents’ living materials and normal medical treatment needs.
Risk warning: the rebound of epidemic situation exceeds expectations, and the data disclosure is not timely, resulting in statistical errors
