Critics blame subcontracting for medical woes

The alleged outsourcing of some services at China's military hospitals has surprised people and stirred controversy, with many calling for intensified regulations following the unexpected death of a college student who had sought treatment at a military hospital in Beijing.

Wei Zexi, a 22-year-old who had been attending Xidian University in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, died in April at the Second Hospital of the Beijing Armed Police Corps.

In China, the armed police force is part of the military, and its hospitals, like all military hospitals in China, are considered to be of high quality.

Wei, who had synovial sarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer, was sent to the hospital by his parents in September so he could receive "immune therapy".

His parents did not realize at the time that the therapy was said to be unproven and that the hospital department where he would get treatment was not being run directly by the military but had been outsourced to a private company.

According to an online post student wrote in February, Wei's parents selected the hospital after using online search engines to find a quality institution.

Wei Haiquan, Wei's father, said a doctor at the hospital had claimed the immune therapy treatment offered by the hospital was developed in the United States and was very effective, according to Beijing Youth Daily.

However, the therapy proved ineffective, the report said, adding that it had not cleared clinical testing to verify its efficacy.

The Biological Treatment Center of the hospital that offered the treatment had been outsourced to the private sector, news portal ifeng.com reported.

The hospital declined to comment, and a visit on Monday found it temporarily closed.

A visitor, surnamed Chen, said he was shocked to learn from media reports that the department had been outsourced. Chen, from Hefei, Anhui province, said he was worried because his mother, who has cervical cancer, was still receiving treatment at the hospital.

He said he, too, had found the facility after conducting an online search. He said he chose it because he believed the therapy it offered caused less pain than chemotherapy.

"People usually have confidence in big hospitals, especially those owned by the Army," he said. "Who would expect them to subcontract their departments?"

An online survey by news portal qq.com that quizzed 51,000 people by Monday afternoon, found more than 47,000 against the practice of contracting out the services of departments at military hospitals.

Gong Xiaoming, a gynecologist at Beijing Union Medical College Hospital, said there was a lack of oversight that meant many military hospitals had quietly contracted out some departments.

"Military hospitals are not under the supervision of health administrative authorities," he said. "Many patients seeking treatment at such departments will think they have found a trustworthy hospital, but they may end up having unnecessary medical treatment offered by the contactors."

Such hospitals usually promote themselves through online search engines to attract patients, he added.

Public hospitals funded by the government are not allowed to contract out their departments to others, according to regulations of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

According to a notice issued by China's top military authority in March, all military forces in China will stop providing for-profit services within three years.

It is not known how military hospitals might be reformed because of this.