Journalists in Hangzhou passed off green tea as a urine sample and submitted it to hospitals for analysis. Six out of ten hospitals said they found blood cells in the samples, indicating a urinary tract infection and prescribed expensive drugs or supplementary tests. The journalists decided to pull off the prank after receiving complaints of overcharging in hospitals. Doctors blamed inexperienced lab technicians, but the bottom line is, they want to make money, lots of money, never mind the costs to public health.
The incident proves the total bankruptcy of the medical services in China, which are no longer focused on healing patients, but only on making money. The more the better, never mind how they do it. Fake test results, fake medicine prescriptions, fake doctors...
The Ministry of Health has penalized 58,000 medical institutions for employing unlicensed doctors over the past two years and confiscated 80 million yuan in illicit income.
In Mao's time, barefoot doctors served the people. Today, fake and real doctors alike serve the god of wealth. China's health care system is completely falling apart. The Southern Metropolis News concluded that “patients have become automatic teller machines for the hospitals”. 90% of the rural population has no health insurance and little access to doctors. In 2003, 73% of rural residents, who should have sought medical help, did not do so because they could not afford it.
Premier Wen Jiabao has presented a 5-year blueprint to improve medical services, but it is doubtful whether it will succeed amid the rampant capitalist development in China.
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