1,100 medical staff held over drug kickbacks in Zhangzhou
About 70 hospitals and nearly 1,100 medical professionals have been caught up in a drugs-for-kickbacks probe in Zhangzhou, Fujian province. The investigation was the latest in series of crackdowns on medical corruption, including the punishment of 39 hospital executives and doctors in Gaozhou, Guangdong, yesterday who took 2.8 million yuan (HK$3.5 million) in kickbacks.
About 70 hospitals and nearly 1,100 medical professionals have been caught up in a drugs-for-kickbacks probe in Zhangzhou, Fujian province.
The investigation was the latest in series of crackdowns on medical corruption, including the punishment of 39 hospital executives and doctors in Gaozhou, Guangdong, yesterday who took 2.8 million yuan (HK$3.5 million) in kickbacks.
In Zhangzhou, a six-month investigation by disciplinary watchdogs found that 73 hospitals, including 22 major health centres, had traded prescriptions for high-priced drugs for bribes and kickbacks.
A total of 1,088 doctors and 133 administrative management workers were found to have taken illegal payments, with a combined 20.5 million yuan surrendered to the authorities.
Exorbitant drug prices have for years been the centre of complaints about the mainland's health system. National authorities have launched numerous initiatives to lower the prices of common drugs, with little progress to show for it.
Li Ling, an expert in the reform of public hospitals at Peking University, said corruption stemmed from hospitals relying heavily on drug sales for revenue, a system that bound hospitals, manufacturers and distributors in an "interest chain".