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Hospitals Punished for Illegal Overcharging
About 20,000 cases of illegal overcharging by hospitals involving 1.3 billion yuan (about US$157.2 million) have been investigated in China since the beginning of this year, an official with the State Development Planning Commission of China (SDPC) said in Beijing Friday.
Deputy Director-General of the SDPC Price Inspection Department Li Zengqi announced at a press conference in Beijing that 11 hospitals have been punished for their illegal overcharging, with 25,845,600 yuan (about US$3,125,000) in illicit income confiscated.
Although the Chinese government has frequently reiterated that hospitals are not allowed to overcharge patients, some hospitals are still raising prices of medicine, medical services and disposable products for medical use, Li said.
According to the SDPC, in a bid to relieve patients' financial burdens, the Chinese government has fixed the maximum prices of over 1,000 kinds of medicine, and since October 1997, has reduced fixed prices on 10 occasions. In doing so, it has saved 18 billion yuan (about US$2.2 billion) for patients.
Li said that price administrations at various levels should continue examining prices of medicine and medical services and punish violators by giving warnings, confiscating illegal income, imposing fines and revoking licenses.
Li Lei, deputy director of the SDPC Price Department, said the Chinese government is exploring new ways of regulating medical prices under the framework of the market economy.
To resolve the existing problems, medical treatment and medicine sales should be managed separately, the medical insurance system be improved, and laws be perfected, Li said.
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