The vast majority of medical workers are the guardians of people's lives and health, and the main force in promoting the construction of a healthy China. How to protect the legitimate rights and interests of doctors, improve the responsibilities and obligations of doctors, and promote the creation of a good atmosphere of respecting doctors and health care? The "Doctor Law of the People's Republic of China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Doctor Law") implemented today focuses on protecting the legitimate rights and interests of doctors, regulating the professional behavior of doctors, and strengthening the construction of the physician team.
The "Doctor Law" has a total of 7 chapters and 67 articles, and new chapters of "guarantee measures" and 19 regulations have been added. Based on the legislative defects and shortcomings that have existed since the implementation of the old law, it has been comprehensively supplemented and revised.
Picture source: Chinese Medical Association
Specially set up a chapter of "guarantee measures" to improve the protection of doctors' rights and interests
At present, the level of medical services in my country has steadily improved, and the health level of urban and rural residents has been continuously improved, which is closely related to the hard work of the medical team. Especially since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the vast number of medical workers have worked day and night, showing the noble spirit of saving lives and helping the wounded and the kindness of doctors.
In this regard, the "Doctor Law" further improves the protection of doctors' rights and interests, reflecting the care and love for doctors. For example, medical and health institutions should provide physicians with occupational safety and sanitary protective supplies and take effective sanitary protection and medical care measures. If a doctor is injured by an accident or suffers illness or dies due to exposure to toxic or harmful factors during professional activities, he or she shall enjoy work-related injury insurance benefits in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations.
In order to better protect the rights and interests of doctors, the "Doctors Law" clearly states that the state establishes and improves personnel, salary, professional titles, and reward systems that reflect the professional characteristics of doctors and the value of technical labor. Doctors working at grassroots and difficult and remote areas will enjoy allowances and subsidy policies in accordance with relevant national regulations, and enjoy preferential treatment in terms of professional title assessment, career development, education and training, commendation and rewards.
In recent years, medical injuries have occurred frequently. In order to strengthen the protection of professional safety for medical staff, the "Doctor Law" clearly states that the personal dignity and personal safety of doctors are not violated in the general provisions. In the newly added Chapter 5 safeguard measures, it is clearly prohibited that any organization or individual is not to hinder the physician's practice in accordance with the law and interfere with the doctor's normal work and life; it is prohibited to infringe on the physician's personal dignity, personal safety and personal freedom through insults, slander, threats, and beatings.
Image source: Chinese Medical Association
Strengthen the training of professional doctors Open multi-point practice
Doctor multi-point practice is an important measure to promote the sinking and reasonable flow of medical and health human resources. The "Doctor Law" clearly states that doctors can increase their scope of practice after passing relevant professional training and assessment. If a doctor practices regularly in more than two medical and health institutions, he or she shall mainly use one medical and health institution and handle relevant procedures in accordance with relevant national regulations. This means providing a legal basis for physicians to increase their scope of practice and practice in multiple points.
Data from the National Health Commission shows that as of 2020, a total of about 260,000 doctors across the country have applied for multi-point practice.
"Statistical Bulletin of the Development of my country's Health Care Industry in 2020" shows that in 2020, there were 4.08 million practicing physicians and practicing assistant physicians nationwide. The Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the 2035 Vision Goals propose to improve the quality and scale of medical staff training and expand the scale of shortages of doctors such as pediatrics and general practice.
Many experts said that the long training cycle of doctors, high work intensity, and mismatch of efforts and benefits are the main reasons for the shortage of medical resources in my country. Doctors in special majors such as pediatrics, imaging, psychiatry, and primary medical institutions are even more difficult to recruit.
In order to further strengthen the training of scarce professional doctors, the "Doctor Law" clearly states that the state formulates a doctor training plan, establishes a mechanism for the training of doctors and supply and demand balance to adapt to the characteristics of the industry and social needs, coordinate the needs of various medical talents, and strengthen the training of scarce professional talents such as general practice, pediatrics, psychiatry, and geriatrics. The state has taken measures to strengthen medical and educational coordination and improve medical school education, post-graduate education and continuing education systems. The country has strengthened the training and allocation of primary medical and health talents with general practitioners as the focus through various channels.The state has taken measures to improve the education system for mutual learning between traditional Chinese and Western medicine, and cultivate high-level talents in integrating traditional Chinese and Western medicine and general practitioners who can provide integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine services. The "Doctor Law" also promotes the minimum education for taking the physician qualification examination from a technical secondary school to a junior college.
In addition, in the face of the problem that doctors in primary medical institutions are difficult to recruit, the "Doctors Law" mentioned that the state encourages doctors to regularly locate medical and health institutions at or below the county level, including township health centers, village health centers, community health service centers, etc. to provide medical and health services. The main practice institutions should support and provide convenience.
At the same time, the use of Western medicine in traditional Chinese medicine and the use of traditional Chinese medicine in Western medicine has become a method to follow. The "Doctor Law" clearly states that traditional Chinese medicine doctors who have obtained medical qualifications through examinations can adopt Western medicine technical methods related to their profession in their practice activities in accordance with relevant national regulations and after passing training and assessment. In accordance with relevant national regulations, Western medical doctors can adopt traditional Chinese medicine technical methods related to their profession in their practice activities after passing the training and assessment.
Standardizes the practice of physicians. Serious violators will be banned for life. During the emergency treatment, doctors are often responsible for difficulty in signing, difficulty in practicing beyond the scope, or possible damage. To this end, the "Doctor Law" stipulates that for patients who need emergency treatment, doctors should take emergency measures to diagnose and treat patients and shall not refuse emergency treatment.
If the patient or his close relatives cannot obtain the opinions of the patient or his close relatives due to emergency situations such as rescuing a patient who is in danger of life, the corresponding medical measures may be implemented immediately with the approval of the head of the medical institution or the authorized person in charge.
At the same time, the state encourages doctors to actively participate in emergency services in public places such as public transportation; if doctors cause damage to the recipient due to voluntary first aid, they shall not bear civil liability.
In terms of using medication for patients, the "Doctor Law" mentioned that doctors should adhere to the principles of safe, effective, economical and reasonable use of medication, and follow the guidelines for clinical application of drugs, clinical diagnosis and treatment guidelines and drug instructions.
In special circumstances such as no effective or better treatment methods, after the doctor obtains the patient's clear informed consent, he or she may use the use of drugs that are not specified in the drug instructions but have evidence-based medical evidence to perform treatment. Medical institutions should establish management systems to review the suitability of doctors’ prescriptions and medication prescriptions, and strictly regulate doctors’ medication behavior.
In terms of Internet diagnosis and treatment, the "Doctor Law" requires that practicing physicians can provide appropriate medical and health services such as follow-up visits for some common diseases and chronic diseases through information technologies such as the Internet in accordance with relevant national regulations and with the consent of their medical and health institutions. The state supports telemedicine cooperation between medical and health institutions using information technologies such as the Internet.
The "Doctor Law" also refines the legal responsibilities for violating the practice standards of physicians and further regulates the practice behavior of physicians. In order to encourage physicians to strictly practice in accordance with the law and effectively protect the rights and interests of patients, relevant legal norms have been clarified. The "Doctor Law" stipulates that for those who seriously violate the professional ethics and medical ethics norms of doctors and cause bad social impact, the health and health department of the people's government at or above the provincial level shall revoke the physician's practice certificate or order it to stop illegal practice activities, and shall be prohibited from engaging in medical and health services or medical clinical research for five years until life.
Source: People's Daily
