Reuters AlertNet Lite - China shuts Shanghai hospital over irregularities

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China shuts Shanghai hospital over irregularities

07 Feb 2007 07:31:12 GMT
Source: Reuters

SHANGHAI, Feb 7 (Reuters) - A private hospital in Shanghai has been closed after accusations of overcharging and conducting unnecessary treatment, state media said on Wednesday.

Authorities revoked the licence of the Shanghai Consonancy Hospital after finding it had breached rules on medical treatment, equipment sterilisation and waste management, the reports said.

The Shanghai Daily said the hospital was "accused of bilking two women out of nearly 80,000 yuan ($10,300) by performing needless surgery".

Some doctors at the hospital had had their medical licences suspended for up to six months, state media quoted the local regulator, the Shanghai Health Bureau, as saying.

Soaring medical costs and cases of overcharging at Chinese hospitals have sparked a nationwide outcry.

The issue has forced its way onto the agenda of the ruling Communist Party, now grappling to narrow a widening gap between the country's rich and poor.

A Consonancy employee contacted by Reuters confirmed that the hospital had closed on Wednesday, but declined to give a reason. State media said the government had acted after numerous reports of complaints by a young woman against the hospital.

The Shanghai Daily quoted Wang Hongyan, 31, as saying that she had gone to the Consonancy late last year for a full gynaecological check, whereupon doctors had told her she needed an immediate operation to prevent sterility.

She underwent a series of operations and left the following day on payment of nearly 40,000 yuan in treatment fees, Wang was quoted as saying.

Days later, her sister, Wang Hongbo, suffering painful menstruation, also went to the Consonancy and received similar treatment for the same price, the newspaper reported.

Wang Hongyan later found from another Shanghai hospital that she had been suffering from a common gynaecological condition that could have been treated with medication, it said.

The official China Daily said 90 percent of the patients treated at the Consonancy had been migrant workers from rural areas, and many had undergone operations without knowing what the surgery was for. (Reporting by Charlie Zhu, editing by Roger Crabb; charlie.zhu@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: charlie.zhu.reuters.com@reuters.net; Tel +8621 6104-1778)

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Last updated:Wed Feb 7 07:32:18 2007