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)