Gynecologist Lu Li, who works for the Qinghai Women and Children Healthcare Hospital in Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province, and six other doctors from big hospitals in Xining were recently sent to Beijing for a two-day training program to study checkup skills for cervical cancer.

They will then pass on what they learned to 30 or more rural doctors back in Qinghai.

The training program is held by the Ministry of Health as part of a three-year project for the mass scanning and treatment of rural women's common illness that was put in place in 2009 at the beginning of large-scale medical reforms. More than 150 doctors were assigned to study in Beijing with the help of the country's top gynecology experts.

"We will use the syllabus that the ministry gave us to teach doctors from six counties in my province and they will teach more rural doctors," said Lu when she successfully completed the program. "I think this program is efficient." Lu said the problem with checkups is primarily down to doctors' lack of skills rather than a lack of medical equipments.

"The government has apportioned a fund of 300 million yuan (US$44.91million) for the patients but we, the suppliers who are supposed to train doctors and give free checkups, cannot got sponsorship from the fund," said Zhang Lingli, an official from the Ministry of Health who is in charge of the women and children healthcare department.

According to her, the new training program, which aims to improve the quality of checkups, will be sponsored by a Philips' brand healthcare company.

Shenzhen Goldway Industrial Inc (Goldway), a Philips company that makes medical equipment, will work with the Ministry of Health and Chinese Medical Association (CMA) by offering 2.46 million yuan, of equipment and a skilled team, the company's representative said at the opening ceremony of the training program. Wu Jun from Goldway said their equipment and healthcare team will increase the quality of scanning and treatment, responding to the CMA's complaint that the quality of implementation in rural areas was now the most significant problem.

"Through long term cooperation with the hospital, we know the needs of doctors and patients," Wu said.

According to the Ministry of Health, cervical cancer is the second most lethal cancer among China's female population. A total of 30,000 Chinese women die from it every year. Under the Philips' training program, about 10 million rural women will be given checkups by the end of 2011.

"We are inclined to train more doctors in western China, which has the highest incidence of cervical cancer," Zhang said. The training program will cover 211 counties in China, of which more than half will be in western areas.

(China Daily November 8, 2010)