On November 26, the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau revealed
that twenty-one medical companies had a record of misconduct for
offering commercial bribes. The blacklisted companies will not be
allowed to do business in Beijing for the next two years. During
this period medical institutions in Beijing should not buy their
products.
All medical companies offering financial incentives or other
benefits to medical institutions or staff will have their negative
conduct listed in legal and public records.
The blacklist was finalized in accordance with the Ministry of
Health and the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau's regulations that
aim at purifying Beijing's medicine market and standardizing
business orders for medicine purchases and sales.
Most hospitals and medical enterprises have approved of this
practice, but there were also objections. "In fact, we do not
advocate giving bribes to hospitals, but many other companies have
been doing this; we can not survive if we do not do it as well.
Many medical enterprises that do similar business are also involved
in commercial bribery but they have not been investigated and
punished,"said Mr. Ren, the legal representative of a Beijing Fuji
Medical Instruments Company.
Ren felt that it was unfair to punish small enterprises first
before improving the social climate that condoned graft. Punishment
of this kind equates with a "death sentence" for his small
business.
Managers from two other medical companies said that the news was
very sudden; they are still trying to get more information.
(China.org.cn by Yang Xi, November 29, 2007)