Directive bans patients from making 'cash gifts' to hospital doctors
Some medics welcome move to end payment of 'red packets', but others contend practice will endure as long as health worker wages stay low
Doctors and patients in mainland hospitals will be required to sign a declaration banning the payment of cash-filled "red packets" and other gifts from May 1, under a national health commission directive.
Some doctors praised the move, but others questioned the usefulness of asking the two parties to go through what was likely to be just a formality.
Hospitals graded secondary or tertiary will have to present the document to patients within 24 hours of admission, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission's directive. Patients must also sign it and promise not to give gifts.
Zhi Xiuyi, deputy president of the Beijing Doctors Association and a professor of Capital Medicine University's lung cancer centre, believed the measure would deter some doctors from accepting gifts, although the key was to discourage patients and their families from offering them in the first place.
"We've been trying to stamp out the practice for many years, but many people insist on giving red packets. They worry about medical standards if doctors don't receive them," he said.
"The best way to let patients feel comfortable without having to pay extra money is to improve the medical system."
Many people insist on giving red packets. They worry about medical standards if doctors don't receive them