From Chinese Press

Stop abuse of medical resources

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-01 07:51

The life of doctors in some hospitals seems easy. They send patients for several check-ups, and then prescribe some medicines based on the reports. This process can only be called a "quick way" to make money, says an article in Xinhua Daily Telegraph. Excerpts:

The ongoing abuse of resources in some hospitals has given rise to some fantastic jokes among the public. But that is what should be expected if a 75-year-old man is charged more than 7,000 yuan ($1,029) for seeing a doctor on four days in a hospital in Jiangsu province and among the tests he is recommended to go through is a "vagina examination" for 5 yuan.

In another incident that took place in Guangdong province, an infant born less than a week before the scheduled date was subjected to 189 tests in three days, including those for AIDS, syphilis, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. The tests cost the parents nearly 6,000 yuan.

Such incidents have been hitting the headlines with frequent regularity, exposing the absurdity that is going on in some hospitals.

Renowned doctors in the past followed the principle of inquiry first. Only after conducting thorough clinical examination did they recommend a pathological or other medical tests. And they treated innumerous patients successfully without prescribing any expensive pathological or other test.

The high-cost of medicines and medical tests that have become so common today do not necessarily ensure proper treatment and healthy results.

It is a pity that even after news of such rampant abuse of medical resources is published and broadcast, relevant government departments don't seem to have moved into action to correct the situation. Since no regulation has been passed to punish those indulging in unfair practices, such incidents are still rampant.

It is important that hospitals and the public health department immediately pass regulations to deal with unscrupulous doctors and hospitals to save patients from been harassed and cheated.

Since the doctors are supposed to be part of a noble profession, the government has to take proper action to ensure that they act nobly, instead of cheating patients.

(China Daily 09/01/2010 page9)