The food and drug watchdog announced new anti-corruption
measures yesterday amid a slew of graft cases. They followed a
number of regulations by the State Food and Drug Administration
(SFDA) issued last month to discourage graft.
The measures prohibit officials from taking part in some
banquets, recreation and tourism activities which may influence the
fairness of their work and prohibit them from secretly holding
shares in pharmaceutical companies in disguise.
The administration yesterday revealed two other regulations
outlining what officials should avoid and what they should
report.
The regulations came after a two-month long "self-examination"
and "ethic redressing" campaign within the SFDA.
"These measures were enacted to plug the loopholes we found
during food and drug supervisions," said Qu Shuhui, disciplinary
inspection head of the SFDA.
A series of corruption scandals, as well as food and drug
incidents, shocked the nation last year and led to the downfall of
a long list of senior officials from the SFDA, including its former
chief Zheng Xiaoyu.
Zheng and several of his former subordinates were put under
investigation for corruption and power abuse.
In July, authorities fined a drug company, Qiqihar No 2
Pharmaceutical Co, and revoked its license after a drug to treat
gastric disorders killed 11 people.
In October, the drug watchdog banned a company in the eastern
province of Anhui from producing antibiotics injections and sacked
its top managers after the drug was linked to at least 10
deaths.
One new rule prohibits relatives from working in the same
department of the SFDA, a move meant to reduce nepotism.
Also, no relatives should be subordinates under the new
regulation.
The regulations also demand the SFDA's human resources
department keep a clear record of situations like matrimonial
status and family relationships between staff.
SFDA staff members are required to report such relationships
once they are hired.
The new regulations also specify six conditions that SFDA
officials should avoid while doing their work.
In addition, at the end of each year, along with their annual
performance evaluation, each leading Party official of the SFDA
should report how he has followed the regulations.
After reports about fake albumin medicine, the SFDA yesterday
said that it is looking into companies that produce counterfeit
drugs to treat blood-related diseases.
(China Daily April 6, 2007)