Study on Present Situation of Township Hospitals in Liaoning Province

Objective To understand the present situations of health resources and service capability of township hospitals in Liaoning Province and to provide suggestions for development of township hospitals. Methods The study was conducted by cluster sampling and stratified sampling. Results There were 70 township hospitals and 1,523 health professionals in Liaoning Province. The number of medical equipment for first aid was only equipped with 10.0% artificial breathing machines and 15.7% ambulances. The areas of dilapidated houses in central and general township hospitals accounted for 2/5 and 1/2. Most of health professionals (54.6%) only have technical secondary school qualifications. The diagnostic test for bacteria of was 10%, only 51.4% hospitals could carry out nutrition assessment. Conclusions The health professionals in Liaoning Province was low educational qualifications and illogical knowledge structure. The problem of dilapidated houses and old medical equipments was significant. The medical diagnostic ability in township hospitals was rather low. It is suggested that stress should put on construction of township hospitals, qualified training of rural health professionals in general medicine, and improvement of health service capability in rural areas.