At the end of last month, two public health officials in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were found guilty of malpractice that led to 11 people contracting HIV.

Li Zhanping, former director of Qingshuihe County Public Health Bureau, was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for five years.

His former deputy Yang Fei also received three years, suspended for four years. They had both violated blood donation law and regulations for the clinical use of blood.

A hospital in the county illegally collected and provided blood to about 30 patients for transfusions, and carried out various blood tests during the course of about a year from November 27, 1999.

People who received transfusions and two of their spouses were infected with HIV, and one of the spouses died.

The hospital had been banned from conducting tests for hepatitis C, HIV and syphilis due to a lack of screening procedures, but continued to do so. Li and Yang were fully aware of the situation and did nothing to stop it.

Wang Xiaoling, former president of the hospital, Zhang Jun, former vice-president, and three others associated with it have also been charged with dereliction of duty, but are yet to appear before the court.

In another development, three senior Public Security Bureau officials in Haicheng, northeast China's Liaoning Province, have been removed from their posts for failing to crack down on gambling.

When provincial-level police raided Zhisheng Recreation Town, a gambling house in the city on January 26, they found a well-organized and packed gambling house in full swing.

Bai Yuexian, in charge of discipline inspection for Liaoning Provincial Public Security Bureau, described the case as typical, grave and alarming.

Provincial public security authorities accused the Haicheng force of failing in their duty, and the chief, political commissar and deputy chief in charge of security have all been removed from their posts.

(China Daily February 2, 2005)