A few weeks ago, one of my relatives was hospitalized with a heart attack. When I visited him, I found his wife looked as exhausted as if she had suffered a stroke herself.

She was worn out because she had been attending to her husband day and night. During the night, she had to sleep curled up on a bench. This wasn't just spousal affection. There was nobody else to take care of him.

China has a grave nursing shortage nationwide. It's become normal that the whole family has to be mobilized to take care of a patient. If the family members are not available, a care worker has to be hired by the family, often at a high cost.

Back in the 1980s, only hospital nurses were allowed to attend to the patients.

How bad is the shortage? According to the data released by the Ministry of Health, by the end of 2009, there were 2.18 million registered nurses in China, and a similar number of registered doctors.

By international standards, however, the ratio of doctors and nurses should be at least 1:2, and so there should be 4.5 million nurses in China.

The serious shortage not only shifts a burden that should be borne by the hospital to the family of the patient, but also brings risks to the patient as a result of inadequate professional care. Any delay in first aid may be deadly to a patient in a critical condition.

What has brought about the shortage?

One factor is that statutory care charges are way below the actual cost, making hospitals reluctant to hire nurses.

In Beijing, the charge for basic care is nine yuan ($1.4) a day, covering morning and night care, feeding, and taking care of patients' hygienic needs.

A study conducted by the Chinese Nursing Association showed that this charge barely accounted for 10 percent of the actual cost. The loss of nursing charges causes many hospitals to curtail nursing teams to cut down costs, or to use cheaper nurses on short-term contract.

Other issues are low pay, high pressure and humble status. In China, nurses are paid the same amount as a household nanny, though they received much more professional training. Reportedly, nurses' legally mandated pay levels haven't changed since 1985.