Thirty doctors were punished for unlawfully taking money from
patients and medicine companies in
Guangdong last year, said Zhang Shousheng, vice health chief of
the province, Tuesday.
Though the chief did not reveal the penalties for the
wrongdoers, a New Express report said they were not
charged with bribery, as there is no exact legal definition of
their misdemeanors.
The official also said five "serious" cases of doctors taking
"red envelopes," or unlawful payments, from patients and 16 others
of doctors receiving kickbacks from medicine sales representatives
were exposed during inspections last year, without naming the
doctors or hospitals they worked for.
The information was released at a working meeting to further
rectify the widespread irregularities in hospitals and clinics
Tuesday, the Southern Metropolis Daily said.
It is a common practice for Chinese doctors to take money from
inpatients, who wish to be carefully treated, and from drug
companies, which hope to sell more medicine through the
recommendation of doctors.
Zhang said doctors across the province had turned down or turned
in to the medicine authorities a total of 5.5 million yuan
(US$678,000) offered by patients last year, as well as 2.2 million
yuan offered by medicine companies.
Officials at the meeting also urged hospitals to regulate and
publicize prices of medicines and services, cut short the length of
hospitalization for common diseases to the period that was
absolutely necessary, and establish a sharing system of lab test
results among hospitals, so as to alleviate the heavy burden of
medical fees on patients.
The meeting also warned that directors would be held accountable
if extra charges and other irregularities were exposed in their
hospitals.
There was a heated debate last year in Guangdong media about
charging doctors taking money from patients and firms with
bribery.
(Shenzhen Daily February 16, 2006)