The World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday expressed concerns about China's overburden hospitals, claiming that they are incapable of coping with the sporadic rise in diseases linked to the country's fast-ageing population, Reuters reported.

The remark was made by China WHO's representative Bernhard Schwartlander, as he pointed towards increasing rates of cancer and cardiovascular disease across Mainland China.

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Schwartlander claims that only feasible solution to the problem is to increase the number of family doctors and private doctors across the country. "It is simply not sustainable to meet these challenges in a health system that relies on hospitals," Schwartlander said.      

The WHO has noted that even for minor ailments most Chinese patients prefer visiting general hospitals in big cities instead of getting treatment from local doctors. This often leads to long queues of patients across hospitals in big Chinese cities and brings on huge pressure on hospital's infrastructure.

Over the years, the Chinese government has taken many constructive steps to increase the number of general practitioners and medical facilities at the grassroots level. However, several pressing problems including the low salary of doctors and lack of trust between patients and doctors has proved to be a major deterrent.

Experts claim this is a major policy failure on the part of the Chinese government. Many have also pointed out that despite the last two decades impressive economic progress, China has been unable to raise the bar of medical facilities in the interior and rural areas of the country.

TagsWHO, china, Healthcare System China, WHO China