A plan has been set up by Chinese authorities to provide educational aid to medical students from rural areas in the country, provided that they return to the countryside after graduation. (Photo : Reuters)
China continues its initiatives to improve health services in rural areas. A plan has been set up by Chinese authorities to provide educational aid to medical students from rural areas in the country, provided that they return to the countryside after graduation.
In the announced plans, the government will waive the tuition fees of over 55,000 medical students. Those who agree to sign up to the program are also eligible to avail monthly allowances and scholarships. In return, graduates will have to spend six years practicing medicine in the Chinese rural provinces.
According to several news sources, the plan is part and parcel of the 2010 program launched by the government to improve health care in rural China.
"We offer allowances to the students who take part in the training to become resident physicians. They are given 3,000 yuan each per month during their freshman year; 35,000 yuan for sophomores, and 4,000 yuan per month for third year students," said Liao Bin from Sichuan Medical University.
The program, which was established in 2010, will produce its first batch of graduates this June. Among them in Li Lisha, who spent years of medical education in Sichuan Medical University.
"I signed a contract with the Health Bureau in my hometown, so after graduation I'm going back to where I came from," he said.
Other incentives are also offered by the program, including subsidized housing in the rural area they will serve as well as guaranteed promotions.
Approximately 26,000 students with rural backgrounds have joined the program since its launch five years ago.
