Fake military hospitals and medical institutions are still
operating in Beijing ten days after being blacklisted as illegal
and unauthorized by a leading army newspaper.
Some of the websites and half the hotlines for the fake
hospitals and medical institution are still open, the People's
Daily reported on its website.
The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) released a list of 59
fake military medical institutions and research centers in its
newspaper PLA Daily on Jan. 16.
The so-called "doctors" in these institutions prefer making
prescriptions for patients on the phone to face-to-face
consultancy, explaining that most of the experts in the hospital
happen to be on leave or errands and are unable to show up at the
"hospital", reported People's Daily.
The fake medical institutions and hospitals all have ambiguous
addresses and leave telephone numbers and e-mail addresses as the
only means of contact, the paper said.
When the paper's reporter pretended to be a patient and dialed
the "Hepatitis B research center", a "doctor" surnamed Chen
answered and recommended medicines made by their center to the
reporter. Chen even assured patients the blacklist has no
credibility.
The so-called "PLA Chinese traditional medicine research
institute" claims a connection with the World Health Organization
but their knowledge of international institutions is sickly.
Instead of pasting the WHO logo on their website they used the
acronym WTO.
An anonymous employee from Beijing Food and Drug Administration
said local government's lethargy in taking action to punish these
hospitals is one of the reasons for the number of fake military
hospitals.
Local governments are sometimes reluctant to act because they
think any investigation of military medical organizations should be
carried out by the army rather than by them, the paper quoted him
as saying.
The eradication of fake military organizations and doctors
requires cooperation between the local government and the army,
said Chen Zhengyu from the PLA General Logistics Department.
Huang Jianshi, assistant to the Dean of the Chinese Academy of
Medical Sciences, said fines are insufficient and stricter
punishment is needed to root out these fake organizations.
He also suggested a stricter control of online registration to
wipe out advertising by illegal hospitals and organizations on the
internet.
(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2007)