China's Health Ministry on Wednesday urged health authorities and hospitals at all levels to strengthen hospital administration to prevent medical accidents in the wake of four anesthesia-related deaths.

Mao Qun'an, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, or MOH, told health institutions across the country to check themselves for loopholes in hospital administration and medical safety management at a press conference Tuesday morning.

Medical institutions should stick to social benefits in their operations instead of focusing on economic gains, he said.

The remarks came as the ministry attributed four anesthesia-related deaths in the southern province of Fujian last year to "loose hospital administration," according to Mao.

A three-year-old boy and two men, aged 26 and 29, died in surgery after receiving anesthesia at No. 2 Sanming City Hospital. A 44-year-old woman died 23 days after her operation. Those surgeries took place from Sept. 3 to Oct. 10 last year.

Follow-up tests on six anesthesia drugs used on the patients found none to be problematic.

But an investigation report by the MOH said some of the doctors in the hospital did not abide by standard medical practices during their work by turning off anesthesia machine alarms or not paying enough attention to patients under surveillance.

Junior doctors were also found to have administered anesthesia in difficult cases without the required supervision of senior doctors, the report said.

The president of the hospital and his deputy were sacked after the deaths and three doctors who had administered anesthesia in the fatal cases lost their licenses, according to Mao Qun'an.

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2009)