The medical representative involved has not been found yet, and the proportion of drugs used in the respiratory department of Xi'an First Hospital exceeds the regulations
On September 1st, a video of two doctors at the First Hospital of Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province receiving cash inside the hospital was exposed online, causing widespread public attention. On September 2nd, the CCTV reporter visited Xi'an First Hospital to investigate and verify. The hospital confirmed that the two doctors in the video were employees of Xi'an First Hospital. The person in charge of Xi'an First Hospital stated that two doctors are indeed employees of the hospital, one is the director of the Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine Department of the hospital, and the other is the former director of the Geriatric Respiratory Department. The two parties involved have been suspended from work for investigation due to disciplinary violations. After confirming with two doctors involved, the videos circulating online were filmed in May and June 2021, respectively.
The reporter interviewed the person in charge of Xi'an First Hospital about which pharmaceutical company the pharmaceutical representative is from and why they send cash to doctors. The person in charge of the hospital stated that the person in the online video who sends cash is a pharmaceutical representative responsible for pharmaceutical products, and the specific type of drugs and company they are responsible for are still being implemented. "Due to a long time ago, we are currently in contact with the parties involved." The reporter continued to interview the head of the hospital regarding the issue that the hospital had already contacted the parties involved, but it was unclear which company was responsible. The head did not provide a positive answer.
During the investigation, the reporter found that according to the regulations of Xi'an First Hospital, the proportion of drugs used in the respiratory department of the hospital should not exceed 35%. However, the actual situation is that the proportion of traditional Chinese medicine in the respiratory department of the hospital exceeds 39% during the medical treatment process. The hospital manager's explanation for this is that this situation is related to the relatively high use of medication for respiratory diseases.
In May of this year, the National Health Commission, the Ministry of Public Security, and other 14 departments jointly issued a notice on the key points for correcting corrupt practices in the field of pharmaceutical procurement and sales and medical services in 2023, requiring a focus on rectifying prominent corruption issues in the pharmaceutical sector. On August 11th this year, the Shaanxi Provincial Health Commission announced that it will carry out a one-year centralized rectification of corruption in the medical field.
The head of Xi'an First Hospital stated that in recent years, in order to prevent corruption in the medical field, the hospital has introduced management regulations to prevent doctors from receiving red envelopes and kickbacks. There are also many practical and feasible preventive measures in daily management. But when the reporter requested to view the relevant materials, the hospital stated that collecting and organizing them would take time and they were unable to show the relevant materials to the reporter. As of the time of press release, the hospital stated that the medical representative mentioned in the video is still unreachable.