"Our pharmacy is too small to store enough types of drugs, which results in chronic shortages of medication," he said. "We are considering cooperating with logistics companies so they can deliver drugs in the quantities we need."

In addition, policy restrictions mean the salaries of community doctors are usually fixed and much lower than those of practitioners in large hospitals, and they are not related to workload, which has resulted in a constant drain of talent, he said.

"I've heard that general doctors at Beijing's tertiary hospitals receive an average annual salary of 250,000 yuan, but at our health center it's only about 100,000 yuan, even though our doctors have the same qualifications as those in big hospitals," Wu said.

Liu Zhiwen, director of Xiguan Community Health Center, said the clinic has just four doctors to treat a population of 22,000.

"In addition, half of our patients come from other communities, so our doctors are constantly busy every day. It's difficult to provide an adequate service," he said.

As the promotion of family doctor services is expected to result in more patients attending community medical centers, the shortage of talent will become more severe in the coming years, he added.

Contact the writer at wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn