Money may be best medicine for rural doctor shortage

Doctors working in rural areas in Beijing will get a big raise - in some cases more than triple their current subsidies - under a measure by the municipal government to ease a shortage of healthcare resources.

Of Beijing's 3,919 villages, 847 have no medical or healthcare services. The gap has created many inconveniences for residents, Mao Yu, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning, said on Tuesday.

Besides the shortage of doctors, more than 90 percent of the doctors in Beijing's rural areas are more than 50 years old. Young doctors are scarce, he said.