The alleged outsourcing of some services at
China's military hospitals has surprised people and stirred controversy, with
many calling for intensified regulations following the unexpected death of a
college student who had sought treatment at a military hospital in Beijing.
Wei Zexi, a 22-year-old who had been
attending Xidian University in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, died in April at the
Second Hospital of the Beijing Armed Police Corps.
In China, the armed police force is part of
the military, and its hospitals, like all military hospitals in China, are
considered to be of high quality.
Wei, who had synovial sarcoma, a rare soft
tissue cancer, was sent to the hospital by his parents in September so he could
receive "immune therapy".
His parents did not realize at the time
that the therapy was said to be unproven and that the hospital department where
he would get treatment was not being run directly by the military but had been
outsourced to a private company.
According to an online post student wrote
in February, Wei's parents selected the hospital after using online search
engines to find a quality institution.
Critics blame subcontracting for medical
woes
Wei Haiquan, Wei's father, said a doctor at
the hospital had claimed the immune therapy treatment offered by the hospital
was developed in the United States and was very effective, according to Beijing
Youth Daily.
However, the therapy proved ineffective,
the report said, adding that it had not cleared clinical testing to verify its
efficacy.
The Biological Treatment Center of the
hospital that offered the treatment had been outsourced to the private sector,
news portal ifeng.com reported.
The hospital declined to comment, and a
visit on Monday found it temporarily closed.
A visitor, surnamed Chen, said he was
shocked to learn from media reports that the department had been outsourced.
Chen, from Hefei, Anhui province, said he was worried because his mother, who
has cervical cancer, was still receiving treatment at the hospital.
He said he, too, had found the facility
after conducting an online search. He said he chose it because he believed the
therapy it offered caused less pain than chemotherapy.
"People usually have confidence in big
hospitals, especially those owned by the Army," he said. "Who would
expect them to subcontract their departments?"
An online survey by news portal qq.com that
quizzed 51,000 people by Monday afternoon, found more than 47,000 against the
practice of contracting out the services of departments at military hospitals.
Gong Xiaoming, a gynecologist at Beijing
Union Medical College Hospital, said there was a lack of oversight that meant
many military hospitals had quietly contracted out some departments.
"Military hospitals are not under the
supervision of health administrative authorities," he said. "Many
patients seeking treatment at such departments will think they have found a
trustworthy hospital, but they may end up having unnecessary medical treatment
offered by the contactors."
Such hospitals usually promote themselves
through online search engines to attract patients, he added.
Public hospitals funded by the government
are not allowed to contract out their departments to others, according to
regulations of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
According to a notice issued by China's top
military authority in March, all military forces in China will stop providing
for-profit services within three years.
It is not known how military hospitals
might be reformed because of this.
(Source: China Daily)