When Yu Ying, an emergency physician and celebrity on Twitter-like online platform SinaWeibo, announced that she would quit the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, one of the most famous hospitals in China, for a private practice, she probably had not expected the post would be forwarded more than 11,600 times, and get 10,000 comments and 5,000 "like (zan)" clicks.

But the reason she resigned from a much-coveted position in a top public hospital is simple.

"I was not happy there," Yu says.

She said the performance evaluation and promotion mechanism in public hospitals encourages doctors to focus on scientific research, rather than on patients, and she was also tired of not being able to speak her mind in that environment, Yu explains.

"Besides, I earned too little. People work for money or for interest. I couldn't get satisfied either way, and I left."

Yu is far from alone.

An increasing number of doctors have been leaving the public healthcare system for various reasons, although working in a public hospital, especially in a reputed one, often means lifetime employment.