China will crackdown on business-related bribery in the health
sector to ease the public's concerns over expensive and difficult
access to medical services, said Minister of Health Gao Qiang on
Tuesday.
Business-related bribery makes it harder to deal with the
current public medical service problem and worsens the tense
relationship between patients and doctors, Gao said at a
tele-conference.
In China, some companies and individuals gave commissions to
health officials and workers selling substandard drugs and medical
equipment to hospitals, resulting in many medical accidents.
Some doctors used expensive drugs in treatment to gain
profits,which negatively affected patients' health and stretched
their financial capabilities to the limit, causing public
complaints and hatred of hospitals.
"Business-related bribery has severely affected the reputation
and public confidence over the nation's health service and
triggered corruption and crime, and it must be stopped," said
Gao.
Internal investigations should be carried out within the
healthsystem first, said Gao, referring to illegal deals in trading
of drugs and medical equipment.
"And serious bribery involving large sums of money must be
reported and investigated without delay," he noted. Cases of
bribery, corruption and power abuse by health officials will be
turned over to judiciary departments as soon as they are
detected.
The health system must also enhance the education of health
workers to stay away from illegal drug deals and set up teams to
guide and supervise the crackdown, said Gao.
(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2006)