BEIJING, June 16 -- More than 290,000 Chinese doctors have undertaken standardized residency training since 2013, an official with the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) said Friday.

Zeng Yixin, deputy head of the NHFPC, made the remarks at a conference on national residency training of doctors held in Beijing.

Three departments have been selected for a pilot project for the standardized training of specialists, according to a guideline issued by the NHFPC last year, Zeng said.

In 2013, an institution for standardized residency training of doctors was set up, and since then enrollment numbers have been rising, said Zhang Yanling, president of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association.

Prior to this, Chinese doctors were given between 3 to 6 years of residency training managed independently by and varying in content according to their individual hospital.

The standardized training has paid off over the years with graduates reaching international standards, and contributing to China's medical science and public health talent pool, Zhang said.

Improvements are still required in some aspects such as the philosophy of training, faculties, and training conditions, according to Wang Qiming from the Ministry of Education (MOE).

The MOE will join forces with the NHFPC to build a number of demonstration clinics at colleges, in order to make the most of the talent available at the colleges, Wang said.