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China's bid to end bribery for doctors opens debate

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-25 21:31

BEIJING China's new bid to end corruption among non-government employees, especially doctors, has touched a sensitive nerve of the Chinese society in which poor doctor-patient relations have long been a topic, and where doctors are on low salaries.

Medical staff may face commercial bribery charges if they receive money or other forms of reward from sales agents of pharmaceutical companies or suppliers of medical equipment, according to a judicial interpretation by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) and the Supreme People's Procuratorate released on Monday.

Doctors may also face punishment if they help promote pharmaceutical products through their prescriptions and then get a kickback.

An official with the SPC said the move was to tackle bribery in several fields including medicine, which have "seriously harmed the public interest".

The document triggered heated online debate since it was released Monday. More than 5,000 comments have been left on the message board of www.sina.com.cn, one of China's major news websites.

"Firmly support. Even though it cannot completely root out commercial bribery in the medical circle, at least doctors would bridle their behaviors for a while," a netizen from east China's Jiangsu Province wrote.

"Accepting kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies is an open secrete of doctors. Many doctors have lost their medical ethics," another anonymous netizen wrote.

Despite applause, the new measure also aroused discontent from many medical professionals.

"It's unfair to assume that doctors are all corrupt. I believe that a few doctors do receive kickbacks, but they are not the majority," a dentist surnamed Min from a middle-sized state-run hospital in Beijing told Xinhua.

"As a young dentist, I myself have never received any kickbacks," she said.

"Besides, we have to look for a reason why some doctors would like to take kickbacks," she said. "It's because our salary is too low."

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