BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) — China’s Ministry of Health (MOH) will launch a three-month inspection of six “big hospitals” in a bid to curb corruption in the health sector and improve efficiency, said ministry spokesman Mao Qun’an on Monday. Mao refused to give the names of the six hospitals at the press conference, but said they were all directly under the management of the ministry.
The ministry will dispatch six groups of officials to inspect the work of the hospitals from September to November. They would target management, financial affairs and discipline inspection, said Mao.
The inspectors would hear reports, view documents, conduct surveys, hold seminars and one-on-one interviews.
”Special attention will be paid to drug purchasing procedures,” Mao said.
The ministry began annual inspections of big hospitals in 2006.
Mao admitted that big hospitals had become targets of special inspection “because they received the most complaints”.
The ministry would release the names of the hospitals inspected and the inspection results in December 2007 and January 2008, according to the spokesman.
Government figures show the authorities investigated 2,755 commercial bribery cases in the health sector, involving more than100 million yuan (13.3 million U.S. dollars) in 2006.
The cases investigated involved the purchase and distribution of drug and medical equipment and medical services.
Mao said the ministry had already dispatched 12 teams to 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities on the Chinese mainland to guide and supervise work of medical institutions.
