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The Laibin Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision transferred Zhou Fang, former president of Laibin Municipal People's Hospital, to the procuratorial organs for review and prosecution of the suspected crime. (Image source: Video screenshot on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission)
Recently, the Discipline Inspection Commission of Laibin City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, distributed to party members and cadres throughout the city the "Reading Book on Warning Education in Laibin City's Cases to Promote Reform." In the book, Zhou Fang, former president of Laibin People's Hospital, and others engaged in typical cases of the transportation of benefits in medicine and equipment procurement, which eventually fell into prison, which triggered deep reflection on party members and cadres.
The weekly scenario is not unique. According to statistics, since the "13th Five-Year Plan" in Guangxi, the discipline inspection and supervision organs have filed and investigated more than 4,000 medical and health system cases, of which about 2,500 involve hospitals at all levels and township health centers. The problem of "relying on medical treatment to eat medical treatment" is common among the party members and cadres who are investigated and punished, and they often take advantage of their positions to seek benefits in the procurement of medical equipment, drugs, and consumables, and seriously violate discipline and even be suspected of committing crimes abusing public office.
Why has the purchase and sale of medicine become the "hardest hit area" of medical corruption? What kind of interest chain is behind it? How to promote strong supervision with strong supervision, promote further improvement of the system and promote governance?
A kidnapping case led to a chain of black interests, and the former president of the Municipal People's Hospital accepted the property of nearly 20 businessmen in the medical industry
Not long ago, there was a case of corruption in laibin's medical and health system - Zhou Fang and Yang Wenbin, the two presidents of Laibin City People's Hospital, the largest public hospital in Laibin City, were dismissed one after another, and 76 people in the local medical and health system were punished by party discipline and government affairs. The key clue that led to this black chain of interests turned out to be a kidnapping case, and it was Zhou Fang, the former president of Laibin City People's Hospital, who was kidnapped.
In February 2017, three robbers kidnapped Zhou Fang to a cave for money and forced him to "confess his problems." Under the threat of the robbers, Zhou Fang, who was weak-hearted, wrote down an "explanation material" containing the facts of his violation of discipline and law. Although this "material" was destroyed by the robbers after the incident, it became a key clue for the Laibin Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission Supervision Committee to grasp the evidence of Zhou Fang's bribery.
"We learned that Zhou Fang mentioned in the 'materials' that he received a car from a pharmaceutical dealer in Changsha, Hunan Province, worth more than 200,000 yuan." Wu Renguang, deputy secretary of the Laibin Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission and deputy director of the Supervision Commission, told reporters. According to this clue, the cadres of the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection immediately went to Changsha and other places to investigate, and it was confirmed that Zhou Fang had instructed businessman Ouyang Moumou to help him buy an imported red off-road vehicle in November 2014, with an actual price of 470,000 yuan. "We have reason to suspect that Zhou Fang has taken bribes."
On March 20, 2018, the Laibin Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision filed a case for review and investigation of Zhou Fang's suspected serious violations of discipline and law, and took measures to retain him in custody. After investigation, from 2003 to 2018, zhou Fang accepted a total of 18.106 million yuan of property while serving as the vice president, president and department-level cadre of Laibin People's Hospital, and another 9.39 million yuan of property could not be explained.
At the beginning of the investigation, the staff did not find any abnormalities on the bank deposit books of ZhouFang. Originally, Zhou Fang kept most of the property received in cash, bank cards, etc. in 5 people, 3 of whom were medical device manufacturers. The review and investigation found that Zhou Fang accepted property from nearly 20 businessmen in the medical industry, and the main violations of discipline and law occurred in the procurement process of drugs, medical consumables, testing reagents and medical devices. On May 20, 2019, Zhou Fang was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in prison and fined 4 million yuan for accepting bribes and having a large amount of assets of unknown origin.
10% rebate into "industry rules", secret notification, open and secret, bidding and procurement rules and regulations are useless
The medical device manufacturer Yan Mou is one of the merchants who keeps the property involved in the case for Zhou Fang. From sending cigarettes and wine and sending money to making dots for Zhou Fang's son everywhere, Yan Mou has worked hard to invest in his favor and long-term operation, which has won the trust of Zhou Fang.
From 2005 to 2011, Zhou Fang took advantage of his position to provide assistance for yan's medical device company to sell consumables and small equipment, and Yan sent a total of 1.8 million yuan to Zhou Fang several times in accordance with the proportion of 10%-20% of the settlement amount. "This kind of government-business relationship is certainly not benign, but everyone does it, and the unspoken rules are like this." Yan said.
Almost in the same period, medical device manufacturers Li, Long, Wu and others all gave Zhou Fang 1.34 million yuan, 1.88 million yuan and 3.63 million yuan respectively at 10% of the transaction price.
"At the beginning of 2011, Laibin City launched a new round of drug and medical device bidding, and 10 suppliers should be selected for a target. At that time, someone wrote a whistleblower letter, pointing out that the kickback was given by 10%, and there were also those who gave 15%, only insiders understood, and they should be communicative with each other. Wu Renguang said.
How do these huge rebates complete the transaction? What kind of black interest chain is hidden behind such unspoken rules?
Around 2011, because of the fear of being investigated, Zhou Fang temporarily handed over the 1.8 million yuan given to him by Yan for safekeeping. But later, Yan used the money to buy stocks and repay the payment, and could not return zhou fang, and the relationship between the two broke down.
The businessman who succeeded Yan as Zhou Fang's "personal butler" was his hometown- Ouyang Moumou, the general manager of a science and technology development company. Every time Zhou Fang returned to his hometown, he was almost always received by Ouyang Moumou. In 2013, in order to hide the eyes and ears of the people, Zhou Proposed to Ouyang xx, and did not use cash to send money in the future, but used a note counting method for Ouyang xxx to keep it on his behalf.
From 2008 to 2016, Zhou Fang repeatedly disclosed to Ouyang in advance the inside information such as the parameters, brands, and prices of medical equipment to be purchased by Laibin People's Hospital, helping him obtain the business of selling medical equipment such as blood pumps and photoelectric monitors. In return for providing key insider information, Ouyang moumou successively gave Zhou Fang a total of 1.573 million yuan in benefit fees.
"The hospital department will first propose a procurement plan for the equipment, and after the internal procedure is discussed and decided, the equipment department and the relevant departments will finally propose a plan to explain which brand they want." As Zhou Fang said, although Laibin People's Hospital has relevant rules and regulations in the bidding and procurement of medical equipment, it is useless. Before each bidding, Zhou Fang will secretly "inform" the close businessmen of equipment parameters, budget prices and other information, and require the relevant departments to "tailor-made" procurement standards according to the equipment parameters of these merchants and manufacturers, implicitly decide to win the bid supplier, and then collect a huge benefit fee from it.
The dean takes the big head, the section chief takes the small head, and the upward and downward effects seriously damage the hospital's political ecology
The practice of explicit recruitment and implicit recruitment has turned the public bidding for medical equipment procurement into a "formality". Public bidding has become a "fig leaf" for Zhou Fang and others to seek rent for power, staging a scandal of corrupt transactions in which equipment is purchased with one hand and deducted with the other. In order to make these medical devices successfully win the bid to enter the hospital, when the agent pays bribes, it is usually "the dean takes the big head, and the section chief takes the small head".
"The briber buys which leader, the following people must also buy at the same time, otherwise it may be reported." If the people in the department are also done, everyone is profitable, and things will be done naturally. Huang Minwei, director of the Eighth Review and Investigation Office of the Laibin Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission, said.
After the medical equipment procurement bid, in order to maintain the long-term business, the agent must be dotted one by one from the president to the vice president in charge, to the department director and clinician, otherwise the hospital may soon use less or even use this equipment, and the follow-up order is difficult to guarantee. "For example, after the production of 64 rows of CT, the doctors who need to use this equipment must learn to train, do not have a good relationship with them, some are not easy to learn, and they cannot be used to come back, so the businessmen will open up this relationship from the bottom up." Huang Minwei said.
"The characteristics of this industry determine that the 'hunting' of agents is not one day or two days, and the 'hunted' people are not one or two people, but to open up this relationship, the deeper and wider the fight, the more beneficial it is to the agent." He Hu, the head of the Ninth Review and Investigation Office of the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, told reporters.
Under the influence of Zhou Fang, some leading cadres of Laibin People's Hospital were willing to be "hunted" and used the power in their hands as a "harvester" for seeking private interests, and this deformed upward and downward effect spread like a plague in Laibin People's Hospital, and the hospital's political ecology was seriously polluted. Xu Moumou, the former vice president, even accepted bribes of 50,000 yuan from others on the day that Zhou Fang was retained by the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, and continued to accept bribes of 150,000 yuan after 12 days.
"The upper beam is not right and the lower beam is crooked. Zhou Fang, the 'squad leader', also wants big money, small money also takes, and there are problems with his life style, so I think the leaders can do this, why can't we. Huang Minwei said. In 2019, the future dean Yang Wenbin was investigated, and bluntly said, "At that time, I was the vice president, he was the dean, and he did not give me any opportunities at all, I knew that he took this money, why didn't he take it when I came?" ”
Hospitals that should be responsible for protecting lives have unspoken rules that prevail; doctors who should be responsible for saving lives and helping the injured are thinking about seeking private interests. In the end, the investigation and handling of Zhou Fang's case led to several cases, involving dozens of people. Up to now, the Laibin Municipal Discipline Inspection Commission Supervision Commission has investigated and handled more than 40 people who violated discipline and law in the Zhou Fang series of cases, and the amount involved is more than 50 million yuan.
Adhere to the "three noes" as a whole, promote strong supervision with strong supervision, and continuously strengthen and improve the governance of corruption in the field of pharmaceutical purchase and sale
The amount of money involved remains high, the chain of corrupt interests is interlocked, and key links in key positions are frequently lost... The corruption of pharmaceutical purchase and sale not only destroys the political ecology of hospitals, but also leads to problems such as inflated prices of drugs and medical consumables and excessive growth in medical expenses, which damages the vital interests of the masses.
"The problem of corruption in the purchase and sale of medicines is prone to occur frequently, which has ruined the image of the medical and health industry, increased the burden of the masses to see a doctor, and also affected the healthy development of the pharmaceutical industry." A public official of laibin city medical system sighed. Taking the opportunity to investigate and handle the Zhou Fang series of cases, the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection supervision urged the Municipal People's Hospital to deepen the use of cases to promote reform, formulate measures for the supervision and management of material procurement and bidding, standardize the "triple one" deliberative procedures, and save more than 10 million yuan in funds just by rejecting the non-compliant issuance of subsidies.
The reporter learned from the discipline inspection and supervision group of the Central Discipline Inspection Commission and the State Supervision Commission in the National Health Commission that since the beginning of this year, the group has focused on urging the National Health Commission, the State Medical Insurance Bureau, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and other units to earnestly perform their industry supervision duties and vigorously rectify the problem of corruption in the purchase and sale of medicines.
The National Medical Insurance Bureau is exploring the establishment of a credit evaluation system for pharmaceutical prices and procurement, and includes acts such as commercial bribery of pharmaceuticals in the list of untrustworthy matters. Up to now, nearly 70 enterprises have been subject to restrictive measures for untrustworthy breaches of contract. In January and June this year, the National Medical Insurance Bureau issued guidance on the centralized procurement of drugs and high-value consumables respectively to promote the normalization and institutionalization of the work.
In April, the National Health Commission and nine other departments issued the "2021 Key Points for Correcting Unhealthy Trends in the Field of Pharmaceutical Purchase and Sale and Medical Services". In May, an inter-ministerial joint meeting was held to urge relevant departments to assume the responsibility of industry governance, severely crack down on kickbacks, and comprehensively build a "pro-Qing" medical-business relationship. In August, the National Health Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine issued the National Action Plan for the Integrity of Medical Institutions and Their Staff (2021-2024), focusing on special actions to rectify "red packets" and kickbacks. In view of the new situation and new trends of unhealthy trends in the current industry, the National Health Commission revised and improved the "Nine Prohibitions" to Strengthen the Construction of Medical and Health Practices to promote the honest practice of medical personnel.
According to the relevant person in charge of the discipline inspection and supervision group stationed at the National Health and Health Commission, it will adhere to the "three noes" as a whole, promote strong supervision with strong supervision, and continuously strengthen and improve the governance of corruption in the purchase and sale of medicines.
Strictly punish and control chaos, and strengthen the deterrence of not daring to corrupt. Actively establish joint disciplinary action mechanisms for discipline inspection and supervision organs, judicial organs, and administrative law enforcement organs to coordinate and work together to grasp and manage them together, complete systems for consultation and coordination in major cases, joint discipline enforcement, information circulars, and transfer of leads, bringing about a seamless connection between party discipline and government sanctions, administrative punishments, and criminal penalties; further improve credit appraisal systems, and carry out joint disciplinary action against pharmaceutical enterprises that violate laws and regulations.
Promote reform, strengthen supervision, and firmly anchor the cage that cannot be corrupted. Continue to deepen the reform of pharmaceutical procurement, effectively squeeze the inflated price of drugs and consumables with centralized procurement, cut off the black interest chain of purchase and sale; actively promote the reform of the "two-invoice system" for pharmaceutical purchase and sale, effectively reduce the circulation link; promote medical institutions to improve the in-hospital access mechanism for drugs, consumables and equipment, strengthen the power constraint on the "number one" of hospitals and departments; strengthen the supervision of medical service prices and funds, and strictly regulate medical service behavior.
Practice the right way, tree medical ethics, and enhance the consciousness of not wanting to rot. Vigorously carry forward the professional spirit of medical and health care in the new era, inherit the noble medical ethics and medical style, strengthen the publicity of discipline and law and warning education, and build a solid ideological and moral defense line against corruption and degeneration.
"The problem of corruption in the purchase and sale of medicine involves a wide range of issues, involves large interests, complex causes, and difficult governance, and must be treated with more tenacious determination and more effective measures, and must be treated unceasingly and comprehensively to promote the ecological reshaping of the field of pharmaceutical purchase and sale." The relevant person in charge of the discipline inspection and supervision group said.
Source: China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Daily