Fake military hospitals and medical institutions are still operating in Beijing ten days after being blacklisted as illegal and unauthorized by a leading army newspaper.

Some of the websites and half the hotlines for the fake hospitals and medical institution are still open, the People's Daily reported on its website.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) released a list of 59 fake military medical institutions and research centers in its newspaper PLA Daily on Jan. 16.

The so-called "doctors" in these institutions prefer making prescriptions for patients on the phone to face-to-face consultancy, explaining that most of the experts in the hospital happen to be on leave or errands and are unable to show up at the "hospital", reported People's Daily.

The fake medical institutions and hospitals all have ambiguous addresses and leave telephone numbers and e-mail addresses as the only means of contact, the paper said.

When the paper's reporter pretended to be a patient and dialed the "Hepatitis B research center", a "doctor" surnamed Chen answered and recommended medicines made by their center to the reporter. Chen even assured patients the blacklist has no credibility.

The so-called "PLA Chinese traditional medicine research institute" claims a connection with the World Health Organization but their knowledge of international institutions is sickly. Instead of pasting the WHO logo on their website they used the acronym WTO.

An anonymous employee from Beijing Food and Drug Administration said local government's lethargy in taking action to punish these hospitals is one of the reasons for the number of fake military hospitals.

Local governments are sometimes reluctant to act because they think any investigation of military medical organizations should be carried out by the army rather than by them, the paper quoted him as saying.

The eradication of fake military organizations and doctors requires cooperation between the local government and the army, said Chen Zhengyu from the PLA General Logistics Department.

Huang Jianshi, assistant to the Dean of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said fines are insufficient and stricter punishment is needed to root out these fake organizations.

He also suggested a stricter control of online registration to wipe out advertising by illegal hospitals and organizations on the internet.

(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2007)