Starting pay for physicians in Communist China is same as taxi drivers, about $490/month. Communist China is wonderful because it's fair, all are equal

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7/23/13, "Bribery serves as life-support for Chinese hospitals," Reuters

"Bribery is the lubricant that helps keep China's public hospitals running, and the health system would struggle to function without illegal payments to poorly paid doctors and administrators, say medical practitioners and industry experts.

They say government policies are partly to blame for a system in which doctors and other staff expect to be paid extra fees to perform operations and take kickbacks from pharmaceutical firms and medical-equipment suppliers.....

The corruption stems largely from doctors' low base salaries, which are set in line with a pay scale for government workers. Hospitals can pay bonuses but, given public hospitals are strapped for cash, compensation is usually low, say doctors and industry experts.

A doctor fresh out of medical school in Beijing earns about 3,000 yuan ($490) a month including bonuses -- roughly the same as a taxi driver. A doctor with 10 years experience makes around 10,000 yuan a month, according to Peter Chen, chief executive of privately run Oasis International Hospital in Beijing.

"Without the grey income, doctors would not have the incentive to practice," said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York....

Public hospitals say recruiting new doctors is getting harder as many physicians are turned off by the wages at a time when patient numbers are growing. Health Ministry data showed the overall number of doctors rose 13 percent from 2008 to 2011, while patient visits jumped 28 percent.

"There will be no doctors left to treat the current doctors when they retire," said the accounting director at a Shanghai hospital who declined to be identified because she was not authorized to speak to the media."...


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