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Challenging a medical statement
[ 2008-02-21 11:45 ]

 

It is commonly acknowledged in China that seeing a doctor is expensive and is one of the three heaviest burdens shouldered by the common people - the others being children's education and housing. Nobody would argue against this. But an important person said that seeing doctors in China is "the least expensive" in the world.

According to a media report yesterday, Zeng Qiyi, deputy director of the municipal bureau of public health of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, said: "I have traveled all over the world and found China to be the place where seeing a doctor is the easiest and the least expensive."

I wonder if Zeng has any statistics to support this contention. I also doubt if he has really "traveled all over the world". I know that medical services in many countries are more expensive than in China but I do not believe it is so "all over the world", which must include "the poorest countries" as defined by the United Nations standards.

I may sound like I am nitpicking, for Zeng may be only referring to developed countries by saying "all over the world".

That said, Zeng's statement is perhaps true in only one fact. It is only natural that a commodity is more costly where the general living standard of a country is higher than another. But what is the point of stating the obvious?

Zeng was obviously not making a meaningless statement; he pointed his criticism at "people's incorrect values", which he said had led them to believe China's medical fees to be expensive.

He said: "How much do you people spend to have a drink in a teahouse? You do not respect lives and medical technologies, so you feel it to be expensive. You would spend a few thousand yuan to repair a car but would regard it as costly to spend 100 yuan ($13) to repair a man."

What a shocking remark! I even doubt if Zeng really lives in China. Does he not know that people who own private cars are only a small part of the population? Does he not know that even a minor ailment costs a patient a few hundred yuan in cities, and rural residents do not even see a doctor for a minor illness? Can he give an example where for only 100 yuan one can "repair a man?"

And who is in the habit of frequently visiting luxurious teahouses in Guangzhou? Zeng must not have referred to a thatched teahouse in a rural town in Sichuan province, given the logic he adopted in his argument.

According to the media report, Zeng is a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), one who is supposed to speak in the public's interests. He is also a government official, also known as a public servant. I wonder whose interests he represents in the CPPCC.

It is true that doctors charge little - several yuan - for consultation. But everybody knows that hospitals make money by prescribing expensive medicines. For instance, 200 ml of diflucan fluconazole, a medicine to treat gynecological inflammation, is priced at only 4 yuan by the drug plant but a patient has to pay 76 yuan to the hospital, according to Chi Baorong, another CPPCC member, who revealed that fact at last year's CPPCC meeting. The profits are shared by merchants, hospitals and doctors.

It is predictable that the issue of expensive medical services will be mentioned at this year's CPPCC and National People's Congress (NPC) conferences. Let us hope substantive solutions will be worked out to overcome the problem.

E-mail: liushinan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 02/20/2008 page8)

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About the author:
 

刘式南 高级编辑。1968年毕业于武汉华中师范学院(现华中师范大学)英文系。1982年毕业于北京体育学院(现北京体育大学)研究生院体育情报专业。1982年进入中国日报社,先后担任体育记者、时政记者、国际新闻编辑、要闻版责任编辑、发稿部主任、《上海英文星报》总编辑、《中国商业周刊》总编辑等职。现任《中国日报》总编辑助理及专栏作家。1997年获国务院“特殊贡献专家政府津贴”。2000年被中华全国新闻工作者协会授予“全国百佳新闻工作者”称号。2006年获中国新闻奖二等奖(编辑)。

 
 
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