Instructions on Health Work
(June 26, 1965)
Inform the Ministry of Health that its work serves only fifteen percent of the national population, and even among this group, the primary beneficiaries are the elite. The vast majority of peasants have no access to medical care—there are neither doctors nor medicines. The Ministry of Health is not a people’s health ministry; it might as well be renamed the Urban Health Ministry or the Urban Elite Health Ministry.
Medical education must be reformed. There is absolutely no need to spend so much time in school. How many years did Hua Tuo [2] study? And Li Shizhen [3] during the Ming Dynasty—how long was his course? Medical schools should not admit high school or junior high school students; graduates of higher primary schools would suffice with three years of training. The key lies in learning and improving through practical experience. Such doctors, when sent to rural areas, may not be highly skilled, but they are still better than charlatans and witch-doctors, and rural communities can afford to support them. The more one studies, the more foolish one becomes. The current system of diagnostic and therapeutic methods does not at all suit the needs of rural areas. Even the way doctors are trained is geared toward cities, yet China has over five hundred million peasants.
The work has become divorced from the masses, with vast amounts of human and material resources devoted to researching rare, complex, and difficult diseases—the so-called cutting-edge fields—while very little attention or effort is paid to preventing and treating common, frequently occurring ailments that affect ordinary people.
[ l]
This is part of a conversation Mao Zedong had with medical personnel on June 26, 1965.
[2]
Hua Tuo was a renowned physician of the Eastern Han dynasty, celebrated for his superb medical skills and later regarded as a legendary divine doctor.
[3]
Li Shizhen (c. 1518–1593), courtesy name Dongbi, later called himself the Hermit of Binhuhu Mountain, was from Xinye. He is one of the most famous medical scientists, pharmacologists, and naturalists in Chinese history. His masterpiece, Compendium of Materia Medica, represents a comprehensive compilation of herbal medicine and has had a profound influence on subsequent generations of medical and natural science research.

Instructions on Health Work
There is another strange practice: doctors always wear masks during examinations, regardless of the illness. Is it because they fear infecting others? I believe it is mainly out of fear of being infected themselves. We ought to differentiate our approach! Wearing masks indiscriminately undoubtedly creates a barrier between doctors and patients.
Hospitals in urban areas should retain a small number of newly graduated doctors who lack extensive experience, while the rest should be dispatched to the countryside.
The “Four Cleansings” campaign was essentially concluded by 1965. However, healthcare and sanitation work in rural areas had not yet come to an end! Let us shift the focus of medical and health services to the countryside!