China pledges crackdown on corruption in health insurance scheme

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China’s top medical regulator pledged to crack down on corruption with a focus on the country’s health insurance scheme, according to a public statement issued on Tuesday.
The statement came as anti-graft investigators pressed ahead with a year-long campaign into the medical and pharmaceutical sectors.

The statement highlighted six areas for inspection, stressing that investigations would focus on a small number of people in the sector engaged in misconduct.

In addition to looking into the use of public health insurance funds, the campaign will also cover rent-seeking by administrators and management in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors, bribery in pharmaceutical and medical equipment sales and the ethical conduct of medical personnel, the statement said.

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The campaign’s goal is to “carry out systemic rectification that covers all conspicuous problems of corruption in every area and field in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors so we can establish a host of enduring mechanisms to ensure the long-lasting results of our work,” a spokesman for the National Health Commission (NHC) said.

The NHC kicked off the campaign about three weeks ago to crack down on corruption in the medical sector, according to a statement it issued after a joint video conference with another nine agencies, including the National Audit Office and Ministry of Public Security.

Corruption involving the country’s health insurance fund, which covers around 97 per cent of the population, has become rampant and a threat to social stability.

Last December, five medical personnel, including a hospital chief in Xiangtan in the central province of Hunan, were sentenced to up to 11 years for defrauding the fund of more than 12 million yuan (US$1.67 million).

The fund is strained after emerging from three years of zero-Covid policies and a sluggish post-pandemic economic recovery. Health facilities across China have received more than 110 billion yuan from the fund since 2020, according to data published by the NHC in March.

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Chinese retirees hold rare protest over cuts in healthcare insurance

Chinese retirees hold rare protest over cuts in healthcare insurance

In February, protests broke out in the city of Wuhan over cuts to residents’ medical benefits, though city officials later explained the cuts were part of a nationwide effort to channel funds from individual medical insurance accounts to a communal pool that would allow higher reimbursement of outpatient costs.

Even before the pandemic, officials were alarmed about the sustainability of the public health fund as compounding challenges – from an ageing society with soaring healthcare demands to a shrinking workforce – contributed to a growing deficit.

Although the NHC statement said the medical sector was “dedicated to safeguarding people’s health”, the industry is notorious for corruption, and high costs and limited resources have led to public grievances.

A tally conducted by the Post found that over 168 hospital chiefs and party secretaries have been put under investigation or dismissed so far this year as part of the larger campaign.



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