China's Ministry of Health (MOH) has ordered all hospitals to
provide prompt treatment to traffic victims independent of their
capacity to pay.
"People injured in traffic accidents must be attended to
promptly and treatment should not be related to the capacity to pay
medical bills," the ministry said in a circular issued
recently.
In a bid to take the heat out of public complaints about
hospitals being too profit-oriented, China's health authorities
have repeatedly warned hospitals not to turn away patients over
payment difficulties.
But hospitals have retorted that unpaid medical bills are
creating serious financial difficulties for them.
Under China's existing medical system, hospitals are required to
balance revenues and expenditure by themselves with limited
government financial support.
"The highest single unpaid bill in my hospital is about 120,000
yuan (US$16,000)," said Beijing Haidian Hospital official Li Bing.
"Every year we are left with more than a million yuan of unpaid
medical bills."
A survey carried out by the "Clove Garden" professional medical
website found that only 6 percent of 1,341 doctors who responded
supported the ministry's decision in favor of unconditional
treatment and 18 percent clearly opposed it.
The other 76 percent were reluctantly toeing the line but were
anxious to see if the government would work out compensatory
policies to pay bills not honored by patients.
The ministry didn't say in the circular what punishment
hospitals will face if they refuse to provide emergency treatment
to traffic victims, neither did it say what compensation hospitals
will be granted for unpaid medical fees.
Lack of safety awareness, flagrant violations of traffic rules
and poor road etiquette cause hundreds of thousands of traffic
accidents in China each year.
Statistics from the Ministries of Health and Public Security
show traffic accidents have killed about 100,000 people and injured
400,000 each year on average for the last seven years in China.
(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2007)