More than half the families in Shenzhen in southern China's Guangdong Province will get medical help from personal doctors in 2015, according to a medical reform program unveiled by the city health authority yesterday.

The program will be launched next month in several communities on a trial run and be expanded throughout the city from February next year, today's Guangzhou Daily reported.

Under the program, two or three community health centers - each with at least two groups of medical staff - will be set up in each community. Each group - comprising one family doctor, one nurse and one public health doctor - will serve no more than 800 families in the community.

Families can choose their favorite doctor and sign an agreement with the center for their medical services including health counseling, check-up and treatment.

The doctors must be licensed and have at least three years' experience in community work. The Shenzhen Health Bureau will organize training for the doctors to improve their skills and services.

By the end of last year, 634 such community health centers had been built in Shenzhen, where local residents could get medical services within a 15-minute walk, according to the bureau.

(Shanghai Daily August 12, 2009)