Doctor Fu Rong told Xinhua she works treating outpatients two days per week, does group consultations for two days and visits the ward every day. "My working time a day is, on average, more than 10 hours," she said. Every four days she works a 24-hour shift.
Even when a child is given treatment conflict arises. Child patients are usually too young to give a precise description of their symptoms but parents have high expectations from the doctors.
"Conflicts are not rare," said Li Pei, a nurse with the Xi'an Central Hospital. "We always find ourselves facing anxious parents yelling at us."
However, pediatricians are not well-paid. "Pediatricians earn 30 percent less than other departments, because the department earns less income," said Xia Ling, another nurse.
In China, medicines and examinations are the primary source of income for a medical department and children are prescribed less medicine than adults. The dosage for 10 to 15 children equals that of roughly one adult.
A decrease of pediatric graduates has also fueled the shortage.
In 1998, the Ministry of Education abolished pediatric departments in universities.
Qian Xueming, a political adviser who attended the "two sessions", the meetings of the local legislature and political advisory body, in Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, only knew five universities with pediatric departments. Most stopped accepting pediatric majors.
"Without timely measures, the situation will become worse," he said.
According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, 90 million Chinese women are allowed to have a second child under the two-child policy, which took effect on Jan 1.
Qian submitted a proposal to the regional political advisory body this year calling for a "supply-side reform." They suggested free training programs for pediatric majors.
This was echoed by Wang Baoxi, who called for pediatric departments to be restored in medical universities.
An Haiyan, an official with the Shaanxi provincial health and family planning commission, suggested that more importance be attached to pediatric departments in hospitals, and pediatricians be given subsidy for their job.
She told Xinhua last month that the commission has passed a regulation requesting general hospitals have pediatric departments and at least five percent of the hospital beds be given to pediatric departments.
