Abstract: ObjectiveTo examine the status and demands of health human resource in public and private township hospitals and to provide references for the privatization of township health centers(THCs)in Jiangsu province.MethodsTotally 1 634 THCs(1 282 public and 352 private THCs)were included in the survey.ResultsThe ratios of the medical staff equal or older than 55 years were 14.9% and 11.8% for the private THCs in central and northern region of the province and were higher than those for the public THCs in the same region(7.8% and 5.8%).The proportion of the medical staff with undergraduate or postgraduate education for the THCs in southern region was 34.7%,higher than those for the THCs in northern(24.4%)and central region(25.2%),and the proportion for private THCs was higher than that for public THCs(43.5% vs. 34.3%).The average proportion of the medical personnel with senior or vice-senior tech-nical title was 3.8% for public THCs and higher than that for private THCs(2.9%)in the province;but compared to that for public THCs,the proportion was much lower for private THCs(3.9% vs.6.2%)in southern region of the province.In the southern region,the numbers of physicians and physician assistants,registered nurses,and pharmacists in public THCs for every ten thousands residents of in south area were 6.2,4.3,and 1.2 and were higher than those in private THCs(4.9,3.5,and 0.8);while in northern and central region,the numbers were lower in public THCs compared to private THCs.ConclusionThe quality of human resource for THCs depends not only on the ownership structure of the medical facilities,but also on local economic development level and management policy and capability of the government agencies.