Doctors and other personnel attached to hospitals who are found to have overcharged patients more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,250) will be removed from their posts with immediate effect, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported yesterday.

The new regulation is part of a series of measures taken by the city's public health authorities since late last year to curb hospital irregularities, which have drawn frequent complaints from residents.

Doctors' income should not be tied to hospital revenues earned from medicine and medical checkups, the authorities said.

Previously, some doctors were found to have been writing prescriptions that included unnecessary medicines and medical checkups, as some hospitals tied doctors' income to the revenues.

The authorities said doctors' income should be set according to their positions, employment risks and the quality and quantity of their work.

(Shenzhen Daily May 17, 2006)