Clipping Board » Medical Affairs and Administration ─ Medical system, pharmaceuticals, and medical community-related reports
United Updated: "2011/04/14 09:56" Reporter Zhang Jiafang / Taipei Report
Choosing the day when the Department of Health's hospital inspection committee held its first consensus meeting yesterday, former Minister Yang Zhiliang gave an interview to China Broadcasting Corporation. He not only exposed the dark side of the department-affiliated hospitals but also bluntly pointed out the tangled interests between doctors and vendors within the "white tower."
The department-affiliated hospitals were originally provincial hospitals until the abolition of the provincial government in 1998, when they were renamed and incorporated into the Department of Health system. Yang Zhiliang said that back then, the directors and doctors of provincial hospitals were civil servants with fixed salaries and low incomes. Due to personal cultivation and system design, they were forced to earn extra income by opening private practices on the side—"keeping the good profits for themselves"—or engaging in underhanded dealings within the hospitals.
Attended Two Banquets, Too Scared to Go Again
Yang Zhiliang once attended gatherings where he heard that becoming a director or deputy director of a provincial hospital "had a price tag." He went to two banquets as a guest and "was too scared to go again."
Hospital procurement involves huge interests. Vendors would "take care" of doctors and staff in charge. Yang Zhiliang said that doctors' wives would be escorted by special personnel when traveling abroad, and assistance would be provided for household registration copies. For pediatricians traveling abroad, infant formula vendors would even cover their expenses and airfare. "Even hospital year-end parties were paid for by vendors, who handled everything big and small."
Salaries of 400,000 to 500,000, Corruption Unforgivable
"Hospitals receive public budget subsidies, but the budget allocation has nothing to do with local medical resources or residents' needs." Yang Zhiliang pointed out that provincial hospital directors used public budgets to build wards and purchase medical equipment and drugs, "laundering money into their own pockets through kickbacks and bribes."
Yang Zhiliang believes that in the past, there were few good doctors, and due to systemic and individual issues, although some actions were illegal, they were understandable in context. Later, hospitals implemented a series of performance-based salary systems and physician incentive reforms. The monthly salaries of department-affiliated hospital directors reached 400,000 to 500,000, equivalent to the annual income of many families. Even the minister's monthly salary was only one-third of a hospital director's. He said that since these directors are civil servants with pension guarantees, "if they still engage in corruption, it is unforgivable."
Core Medical Services Outsourced, Inappropriate Treatment Inevitably Excessive
Regarding the outsourcing of core medical services in department-affiliated hospitals, "it's like department store counters—vendors only care about their own interests, not the hospital's." Yang Zhiliang emphasized that outsourcing services like chemotherapy, dialysis, and lithotripsy means doctors and equipment are provided by vendors. "It’s obvious—inappropriate treatment will definitely be OVER (excessive)."
Besides inappropriate treatment, Yang Zhiliang bluntly stated that some department-affiliated hospital directors signed eight-to-ten-year contracts with vendors before stepping down. Some even handed over public land to private equipment companies to build cancer centers. He sensed problems but said, "We can't wiretap or follow them," so they could only collect evidence and hand it over to investigators.
Source: http://tw. news. yahoo. com/ article/ url/ d/ a/ 110414/ 2/ 2psuj. html
Yang Zhiliang Exposes the Dark Side of the Medical Industry You Didn't Know
Choosing the day when the Department of Health's hospital inspection committee held its first consensus meeting yesterday, former Minister Yang Zhiliang gave an interview to China Broadcasting Corporation. He not only exposed the dark side of the department-affiliated hospitals but also bluntly pointed out the tangled interests between doctors and vendors within the "white tower."
The department-affiliated hospitals were originally provincial hospitals until the abolition of the provincial government in 1998, when they were renamed and incorporated into the Department of Health system. Yang Zhiliang said that back then, the directors and doctors of provincial hospitals were civil servants with fixed salaries and low incomes. Due to personal cultivation and system design, they were forced to earn extra income by opening private practices on the side—"keeping the good profits for themselves"—or engaging in underhanded dealings within the hospitals.
Attended Two Banquets, Too Scared to Go Again
Yang Zhiliang once attended gatherings where he heard that becoming a director or deputy director of a provincial hospital "had a price tag." He went to two banquets as a guest and "was too scared to go again."
Hospital procurement involves huge interests. Vendors would "take care" of doctors and staff in charge. Yang Zhiliang said that doctors' wives would be escorted by special personnel when traveling abroad, and assistance would be provided for household registration copies. For pediatricians traveling abroad, infant formula vendors would even cover their expenses and airfare. "Even hospital year-end parties were paid for by vendors, who handled everything big and small."
Salaries of 400,000 to 500,000, Corruption Unforgivable
"Hospitals receive public budget subsidies, but the budget allocation has nothing to do with local medical resources or residents' needs." Yang Zhiliang pointed out that provincial hospital directors used public budgets to build wards and purchase medical equipment and drugs, "laundering money into their own pockets through kickbacks and bribes."
Yang Zhiliang believes that in the past, there were few good doctors, and due to systemic and individual issues, although some actions were illegal, they were understandable in context. Later, hospitals implemented a series of performance-based salary systems and physician incentive reforms. The monthly salaries of department-affiliated hospital directors reached 400,000 to 500,000, equivalent to the annual income of many families. Even the minister's monthly salary was only one-third of a hospital director's. He said that since these directors are civil servants with pension guarantees, "if they still engage in corruption, it is unforgivable."
Core Medical Services Outsourced, Inappropriate Treatment Inevitably Excessive
Regarding the outsourcing of core medical services in department-affiliated hospitals, "it's like department store counters—vendors only care about their own interests, not the hospital's." Yang Zhiliang emphasized that outsourcing services like chemotherapy, dialysis, and lithotripsy means doctors and equipment are provided by vendors. "It’s obvious—inappropriate treatment will definitely be OVER (excessive)."
Besides inappropriate treatment, Yang Zhiliang bluntly stated that some department-affiliated hospital directors signed eight-to-ten-year contracts with vendors before stepping down. Some even handed over public land to private equipment companies to build cancer centers. He sensed problems but said, "We can't wiretap or follow them," so they could only collect evidence and hand it over to investigators.
Source: http://tw. news. yahoo. com/ article/ url/ d/ a/ 110414/ 2/ 2psuj. html