China / 61 percent of Chinese doctors hate their jobs

A survey conducted by a group of Hunan university students has given a sobering look at the attitudes of China’s doctors.

The study, conducted by 5 third-year students at Hunan Normal University, surveyed 363 doctors at 19 hospitals. Of those, 61 percent reported that they were unhappy with their profession. Middle-aged clinicians had the lowest levels of mental well-being, according to the survey, while women doctors were generally less satisfied than men.

Being a doctor in China is an increasingly dangerous job, and 92 percent of doctors surveyed described their work as involving “great risk.” Earlier this spring, a series of patient attacks on hospital workers killed one doctor and left five others injured.

In 2006, the last year for which detailed records on patient-doctor violence was reported publicly […] the Chinese Ministry of Health stated that 5,519 medical personnel had been “injured” in disputes — a substantial increase over previous years.

The China Daily cited an “official source” who said that in 2010, 17,000 violent incidents took place, affecting roughly 70 percent of all public hospitals in China.

Such attacks have often met with public indifference, and at times even approval, as doctors are increasingly seen as corrupt and indifferent, taking bribes and prescribing unnecessary procedures to supplement meagre incomes…

Choosen excerpts by JMM from

via Survey: 61 percent of Chinese doctors hate their jobs: Shanghaiist.