Singapore: In a recently held press conference, the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) in China declared that the country was facing a critical shortage of pediatric medical resources.

According to the NHFPC's 2013 statistics, only 3.8 percent of the total medical practitioners in the country were pediatricians. The commission highlighted that though children in the country accounted for nearly 16.5 percent of the total population, the number of hospital beds for pediatrics were only 5.6 percent of the total.

Mr Li Dachuan, NHFPC official stated, "Figures indicate serious disproportionate allocation of medical resources. The higher labor intensity, greater medical risk and low salaries are a few major reasons that scare away young doctors."

Mr Dachuan further added that the current government policies were also not favorable for the development of pediatrics. The NHFPC declared that they will introduce an incentive-based pay system to encourage medical personnel to work in pediatrics.