Salary of village doctors in Hebei Province

The Zaoqiang County Government of Hengshui City, Hebei Province issued the "Implementation Plan on Further Strengthening the Integrated Management of Rural Doctors' Salary and Social Security Work" to clarify the basic salary standards of local village doctors. In the spirit of provincial government documents, the local government implements the basic salary and social insurance for rural doctors, requiring the average salary level of village doctors to be determined based on the salary level of similar on-the-job staff in township health centers. The specific basic salary standards for all rural doctors who have signed labor contracts are as follows: the monthly salary standard for technical secondary schools is 2,979 yuan, and the monthly salary standard for those who have obtained the qualification of practicing doctors is 3,143 yuan. The monthly salary for specialists is 3,073 yuan, and the standard monthly salary for those who have obtained the qualification of practicing physicians is 3,237 yuan. The monthly salary for undergraduates is 3,144 yuan, and the standard monthly salary for those who have obtained the qualification as a practicing physician is 3,308 yuan. Classifying village doctors' salaries by academic qualifications and certificates highlights the emphasis on the level of village doctors and is more equitable. At the same time, the gap between each grade is not large, also because village doctors from technical secondary schools still account for a large proportion, and their income levels cannot be allowed to be too low, resulting in unbalanced development of the village medical team. In addition, the local government also pays enterprise pension insurance and work-related injury insurance for village doctors, which relieves village doctors from worries. Specifically, the township health center is used as the unit for insurance payment, and the unit burden is borne by the township health center that signed the labor contract. The implementation of the provincial policy requires village doctors to have equal pay and be included in the official list. Just a few days before the introduction of this policy, the Hebei Provincial Government has just issued new provincial regulations, requiring that the income level of the grassroots level should be determined according to the same type. Rural doctors should have equal pay for equal work and be included in the official list. In just a few days, provincial-level policies were implemented at the county level. Hebei Province's high efficiency cannot but be praised. According to regulations, in Hebei Province, no matter whether it is an old village doctor currently on the job. Both new village doctors and new doctors who will join the hospital in the future can enjoy the same treatment as those in the health center. On-the-job rural doctors who are included in rural integrated management will be subsidized according to current channels. In principle, their income level will not be lower than that of similar on-the-job staff in township health centers. During the period of service in the village clinic, the income level of newly recruited medical graduates from medical colleges and technical secondary schools in the medical system is determined by comparing with similar on-the-job staff in township health centers. At present, Hebei Province has implemented the "rural-employed-village-employed" policy throughout the province, converting village doctors from self-employed to full-time workers and solving the problem of village doctors' pension. So "equal pay for equal work" and "equal treatment" are obviously measures taken by Hebei Province to further improve the treatment of rural doctors. According to Zaoqiang’s practice, the way for Hebei Province to achieve equal pay for equal work may be to provide village doctors with a basic salary just like it does for health center employees. Hebei Province has been named and commended by the National Health Commission for its early implementation of rural integration nationwide. It is believed that with the efficiency of Hebei Province, the salary policy for village doctors will soon be implemented in various places.