An appeal court in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has upheld the graft conviction of a former health official.

The regional Higher People's Court based in Ningxia's capital city of Yinchuan said in a statement Tuesday that the conviction and the 16-year jail term handed down by a local court in February would stand.

The statement said Li Shoufen, former deputy chief of Ningxia's health bureau, was found guilty of misappropriating more than 551,000 yuan (84,358 U.S. dollars) of public funds and accepting bribes totaling more than 1.1 million yuan.

Li confessed she had spent the public money on her son's home furnishings and her mother's medication.

She took bribes from parents who wanted to secure jobs for their children at the health bureau and construction firm executives who wanted a share in the regional health bureau's new building, as well as pharmaceutical and medical instrument companies who offered hefty kickbacks for under-the-table deals.

Li was sentenced to 16 years in jail by the Intermediate People's Court in the city of Shizuishan on Feb. 16.

Li, born in 1948, studied medicine in college and was promoted to deputy health chief in Ningxia in 2003.