Doctors at community health centres watch daytime television to kill time while hospitals are filled with patients seeking treatment for common colds - Shenzhen's medical resource relocation efforts of recent years have yet to pay off due to public scepticism, says Guangzhou Daily.

The city has opened 268 community health centres across the city to relieve the strain on hospital resources.

But the locals are reluctant to adopt the "major diseases in hospitals, minor diseases in community health centres" concept.

Many people visit hospitals just to have a prescription filled. And more than half suffer from nothing more serious than colds, diarrhoea and other common illnesses.

In contrast, community health centres are finding it difficult to stay open due to a lack of patients.

Staffed by 13 doctors, including four with senior credentials, the Community Health Centre of the Lianhuabei Residential Area has been lauded as a provincial-level model unit but still fails to win the trust of its neighbours.

Daily patient numbers rarely surpass several dozen although more than 100,000 live in the residential area. About 30 per cent of the residents have not registered their medical records with the centre - which is free of charge - making it difficult to fulfil the health centre's disease-prevention function, Li said.

"Community health centres feel like illegal clinics," said Wang.

Such doubts will probably only dissipate with time and experience.

"I didn't trust community health centres at first. I went to big hospitals for every ailment until I had to come here once. Then I realized I was being prescribed the same medicines," said a woman patient.

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