Designated day for doctors will raise their status

THE STATE COUNCIL, China’s Cabinet, has approved Aug 19 being observed as Chinese Doctors’ Day, beginning next year. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

Some say that Chinese Doctors’ Day might not be as meaningful as expected, because doctors will not gain anything from it: no additional holiday, no additional pay, not even gifts.

Yet as Chen Jingyu, a senior doctor from Wuxi, East China’s Jiangsu province, who had long been advocating a designated day for doctors said, it will help establish more harmonious relations between doctors and patients.

The lack of mutual trust between doctors and patients has become a big issue in China. There have been many reports about patients making video records of the whole process of consulting a doctor, or doctors wearing helmets in order to avoid any angry patients attacking them.

The introduction of a Chinese Doctors’ Day presents a new opportunity to harmonize relations between doctors and parents. Hospitals should hold activities for patients on that day, to help people gain a better awareness of how hospitals operate.

Let us hope Chinese Doctors’ Day is conducive to enhancing the status of doctors in the eyes of the public, and marks a good start for a more harmonious relationship between doctors and patients.