Medical equipment kickbacks, industry corruption must be rectified!
Compiled from The Paper
A linear accelerator, a medical device with an import price of 15 million yuan, was purchased by the hospital for 35.2 million yuan. The kickbacks in between, astonishingly, amounted to 16 million yuan, which was pocketed by the hospital president.
[4] A reporter from The Paper noted that this corruption case, which shook the industry, refers to the collective corruption scandal at Pu'er People's Hospital in Pu'er City, Yunnan Province.
Case review
On June 28, 2020, the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission of Pu'er City, Yunnan Province, announced that Yang Wenjun, former Deputy Party Secretary and President of Pu'er City People's Hospital, and Yang Wenhong, Party Committee Member and Vice President of Pu'er City People's Hospital, were both placed under investigation.
On February 3, 2021, Yang Wenjun and Yang Wenhong were both expelled from the Party and dismissed from public office on the same day.
Upon investigation, Yang Wenjun violated the Party's political discipline by engaging in dictatorial "one-voice" decision-making, reducing the "three important matters and one large sum" system to a mere formality, and failing to implement inspection rectification requirements; violated the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulation by improperly accepting gifts and arrangements for activities that could affect the impartial execution of official duties; exhibited formalism by treating intra-Party political life in an unserious and perfunctory manner, reducing it to a mere formality; violated organizational discipline by failing to truthfully explain issues during organizational talks and inquiries; violated integrity discipline by repeatedly borrowing others' vehicles with expenses paid by others, borrowing large sums of money from employees of his unit, and allowing his son to exploit his positional influence to accept property; violated mass discipline by levying fees under pretexts; violated work discipline by failing to properly perform his duties, causing economic losses; and violated lifestyle discipline by engaging in and maintaining improper sexual relations with others during the subsistence of his marriage, and by failing to supervise and educate his son, resulting in adverse effects. Yang Wenjun is suspected of the crimes of accepting bribes, abuse of power by personnel of state-owned public institutions, dereliction of duty by personnel of state-owned public institutions, and bribery by a unit.
After investigation, Yang Wenhong violated the spirit of the Central Eight-Point Regulations and integrity discipline by illegally accepting gifts and participating in activities that could affect impartial execution of official duties; violated organizational discipline by failing to truthfully explain issues during organizational inquiries; violated life discipline by pursuing vulgar interests and engaging in improper sexual relations during marriage; used her position to seek benefits for others in medical equipment and pharmaceutical operations and accepted property, with a large amount, suspected of bribery.
"Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 163
Employees of companies, enterprises, or other units who use their positions to demand or illegally accept property from others to seek benefits for them, if the amount is relatively large, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; if the amount is huge, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years, and may also have their property confiscated.
Employees of companies, enterprises, or other units who, in economic transactions, use their positions to violate state regulations by accepting various forms of kickbacks or handling fees for personal possession shall be punished according to the preceding paragraph.
Personnel engaged in public service in state-owned companies, enterprises, or other state-owned units, and personnel dispatched by state-owned companies, enterprises, or other state-owned units to non-state-owned companies, enterprises, or other units to engage in public service, who commit the acts in the preceding two paragraphs, shall be convicted and punished according to Articles 385 and 386 of this Law.
Article 385
Any state functionary who, by taking advantage of their position, extorts property from another person, or illegally accepts another person’s property in exchange for securing benefits for that person, constitutes the crime of bribery.
Any state functionary who, in economic activities, violates state regulations by accepting various forms of rebates or handling fees for personal possession shall be punished as a bribe-taker.
[1] The author's perspective
The procurement of medical equipment differs significantly from that of ordinary equipment. Although equipment exceeding a certain amount must be procured through bidding by the procurement center according to regulations, hospitals and their departments have the final say in the configuration and parameters of the equipment. Therefore, some equipment manufacturers and agents are willing to spend heavily to bribe department heads and supervising leaders in hospitals, causing these bribe-takers to set procurement standards based on the instrument parameters provided by the bribe-givers.
Thus, it can be seen that while there are policies from above, there are countermeasures from below. After all, the medical industry is highly specialized, making it difficult for outsiders to manage. However, those in positions of power should not abuse their authority in such a manner. In any case, doctors should have a parental heart, living up to the moral principle of medical benevolence and the trust bestowed by the people.
