Local public health officials said yesterday that all physicians in local government-run hospitals will hold a bachelor's degree or higher by 2010, eastday.com has learned.

The city will gradually reduce the number of physicians in the years to follow, removing those with insufficient educational background, officials said.

The goal will be realized in stages. By 2005, all physicians in the city's top-level government-run hospitals will hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while in second-level hospitals, those with such a background will increase by 30 percent.

It has been reported that some 40 percent of all doctors in local hospitals had a bachelor's degree or higher and another 24 percent had a junior college degree in 2000.

The city will also pay more attention to improving the professional performance of hospital nurses, officials said. Efforts will include offering more related education and training and attracting better educated people into the field, they said.

It will establish a high-quality nursing school to help reach its target of 12 percent of local hospital nurses holding a junior college degree or higher by 2005, officials said. The figure stood at three percent in 2000.