Beijing, Nov 27 (IANS): China has initiated a 10-year educational programme which will cultivate more high-calibre doctors and train more general medical practitioners to serve the countryside.

Emphasised at improving medical students' capacity in clinical practices, the programme will require them to go through training in medical ethics and a formal residency before turning doctors, says a notice issued by the Ministry of Education.

A total of 125 Chinese universities have been designated as the first batch of higher-education institutions to lecture medical students under the scheme.

Unlike the US, where medical graduates have to undergo tough examinations and residency programmes before becoming doctors, the majority of Chinese medical students go straight to work after graduation.

Also, the Chinese medical graduates go through residency training as hospital employees and the quality of training is highly dependent on hospitals.

Under this 10-year programme, medical students will now have to go through two or three years' residency training before becoming doctors or assistant to general medical practitioners in rural areas, the notice added.