The RACGP is set to begin training doctors in China, after signing a deal to help the nation quadruple its GP workforce.

The college says it has entered a contract with health officials in Shenzhen, a coastal city of 12.5 million near Hong Kong, to develop a general practice training model for China’s fourth-largest urban centre.

It also says it is in discussions with health authorities in other parts of the world’s most populous nation, which is seeking to train more than 500,000 new GPs over the next decade.

There are fewer than 1.5 GPs available for every 10,000 people in China, according to China Daily, leaving patients to get most of their care from either undertrained ‘barefoot’ doctors in village clinics or at crowded and underfunded hospitals. Australia has about 12 GPs per 10,000 patients.