19-Feb-16 Non-emergency patients will soon have to make advance appointments to attend 22 major hospitals under the Beijing Municipal Commission of Health & Family Planning. The hospitals will stop issuing registration tickets on arrival and patients will have to make appointments online, by phone or at ticket machines in the hospitals. The measure is hoped to reduce excessive crowds. [image: Xinhua]

18-Feb-16 According to some experts, Chinese orthopaedics is not as specialized as in Western countries. Rehabilitation is also a concern, with many saying that the local physical therapy industry lacks modern methods. There is also a lack of public awareness of prevention. "People wear jeans or non-sports shoes in marathons," said Dr Derk Rietveld of Parkway Health in Shanghai. [image: Global Times]

18-Feb-16 If current trends continue, half the world’s population (4.8 bn people) will be short-sighted in just over three decades, with one-fifth of those expected to have a significantly increased risk of blindness. 96% of teenagers in Korea are short-sighted and in Singapore, China and Japan the rate is around 80-90%. [image: Nomad_Soul / Shutterstock.com]

15-Feb-16 China plans to consolidate its huge and fragmented drug market and will support a greater role for traditional Chinese medicines (TCM). China is a major lure for drug firms targeting growth driven by rising incomes and a fast-ageing population. Beijing is keen, however, for local firms to take a larger slice of the market. [image: Reuters / Aly Song]

04-Feb-16 An acute shortage of doctors to treat children is taking a toll on public health services in China, and the recent policy shift to allow families to have two children will only make matters worse, say experts. The country has a shortfall of at least 200,000 paediatricians, said the National Health & Family Planning Commission. [image: Reuters]