Provincial-level health authorities are planning to draw up blacklists for medical companies caught in commercial bribery, the Ministry of Health announced recently.

The regulation creating the blacklists bars medical organizations from buying drugs and medical equipment and materials from the manufacturers and distributors listed on the bribery blacklists. The regulation took effect last month.

The blacklists are to be made public on the official websites of provincial-level health authorities, sources said.

The central government previously listed the purchase and sale of medication as one of the 15 major areas in which commercial bribery often occurs.

The commercial bribery blacklist will include companies that are accused of the following:

criminal cases involving commercial bribery;

other minor crimes that fall short of the sentencing guidelines included in the Criminal Law;

acts of bribery investigated by the Communist Party of China's discipline department that result in punishments;

acts of bribery that are punished by industry or commerce authorities, the finance department or the food and drug watchdog.

The regulation said that an organization or person has the right to report medical officials, medication buyers or medical staff who receive money, property or other benefits from medical companies.

Health authorities will confiscate any illegal income.

Certified doctors who engage in illegal activity will lose their licenses and could face criminal charges if their behavior merits so.

Commercial bribery in the medical field, or huikou, has reportedly helped inflate the prices of medical services.

Last year, the authorities sentenced 230 health workers on charges of commercial bribery. Some 266 others faced disciplinary action from the Party in connection with a nationwide, year-long crackdown on health corruption, according to the Ministry of Health.

A total of 790 cases were investigated by health and commercial and industrial authorities between August 2005 and July 2006. The cases involved 57 million yuan ($7.3 million) worth of bribery.

The authorities have cracked 398 cases, 89.9 percent of which involved purchases of drugs and medical equipment or materials.

The people involved included local health officials, leaders of medical institutions and centers for disease control and prevention.

(China Daily 01/31/2007 page3)