It is a pity that the Shenzhen city government withdrew its application to grant public-hospital doctors rights to practice on their own from the Guangdong provincial authority, said an editorial in the Southern Metropolis Daily (excerpts below).

Most doctors work for public hospitals, which are concentrated in the big cities. Society welcomed Shenzhen city government's application, which was the first of its kind, to turn a trial reform into standard practice. This followed the national public health authority issuing a notice in 2009 to break the public hospital monopoly of quality medical resources, including doctors.

Beijing, Chengdu and Kunming piloted the reform to improve the efficiency of the limited medical resources. But few doctors registered.

A popular reform among patients and doctors may not be popular among public hospitals, which rely on the doctors. It is very easy for the hospitals to resist the reform by imposing restrictions on their doctors.

In fact, it is an open secret that some doctors in hospitals secretly work out of hospitals to earn extra money.

To give the doctors greater flexibility, the authority must first reform the employment system of their employers.