More than 3.37 million Shenzhen residents have signed up for family doctor services at community health centers, accounting for 27.06 percent of the city’s permanent population, the Shenzhen Evening News reported yesterday.

Referred to as the “gatekeepers” of people’s health, general practitioners, or GPs, treat common diseases, promote health-care knowledge and serve as family doctors.

Currently, there are 627 community health institutions and 3,403 GPs across the city. The ratio of GPs for every 10,000 people is 2.73 in Shenzhen, according to statistics from the city’s health and family planning commission.

Meanwhile, there are 2,296 family doctor service teams providing services for residents in the city.

In recent years, new services, such as those offered by family doctors, have become part of basic public health services in major Chinese cities. According to the city’s health authority, Shenzhen has formulated and promulgated a number of incentive measures for GPs in terms of recruitment, subsidies and training.

In Shenzhen, apart from traditional community health centers, a new type of medical institution called a functional community health station has appeared in office buildings, communities and schools this year, according to the commission.

Futian, Luohu and other districts have begun piloting these health stations, which are smaller than the community health centers but offer more streamlined and customized services to specific groups, such as students and office workers.

By 2020, the number of community health institutions in the city will have doubled, with functional community health stations as the driving force. Additionally, 39 new community health institutions will be built this year to expand the coverage of community health services, said the news report.

Shenzhen has also improved appointment services for patients who have signed with family doctors. With the help of family doctors, patients can make appointments more conveniently at 73 hospitals in the city.

The commission is also developing a hotline platform for selecting family doctors. Moreover, the promotion of the family doctor service hotline (400-11-91160) has been listed by the authority as a key task for improving people’s livelihood in 2019.