The Laibin medical and health system in Guangxi involved more than 50 million yuan in the case, and 76 people were punished by party discipline and government affairs
Cut the black interest chain between hunting and being hunted
Recently, the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Laibin Municipal Commission of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region issued the "Laibin City Promoting Reform and Warning Education Reader" to party members and cadres in the city.
In the book, the former president of Laibin People's Hospital, Zhou Fang, and other people's congresses engaged in the transfer of benefits from the procurement of medicines and equipment to the typical case of the end of the prison, aroused deep reflections on party members and cadres.
The weekly plan is not alone.
According to statistics, since the "13th Five-Year Plan" of Guangxi's discipline inspection and supervision organs, more than 4,000 cases of the medical and health system have been filed and dealt with, including about 2,500 cases involving hospitals at all levels and township health centers.
The party members and cadres under investigation generally have the problem of "relying on doctors for medical treatment." They often take advantage of their positions to seek benefits in the procurement of medical equipment, medicines, and consumables, serious violations of regulations and disciplines, and even suspected crimes on duty.
Why does the pharmaceutical purchase and sale link become the "hardest-hit area" for medical corruption?
What kind of interest chain is behind it?
How to use strong supervision to promote stronger supervision, promote further improvement of the system, and promote governance?
A kidnapping case led to a black chain of interests, and the former dean of the Municipal People’s Hospital accepted the property of nearly 20 businessmen in the medical industry
Not long ago, a series of corruption cases occurred in the medical and health system of Laibin City-the local largest public hospital, Laibin City People's Hospital, two deans Zhou Fang and Yang Wenbin were downed one after another, and 76 members of 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 director of the Laibin City People’s Hospital, who was kidnapped.
In February 2017, three robbers kidnapped Zhou Fang to a cave in order to obtain property and forced him to "explain the problem."
Under the intimidation of the robbers, Zhou Fang, with a guilty conscience, wrote an "accounting 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 Commission for Discipline Inspection to grasp the evidence of Zhou Fang's bribery.
"We learned that Zhou Fang mentioned in the'materials' that he had received a car from a drug dealer in Changsha, Hunan, worth more than 200,000 yuan." Wu Renguang, deputy secretary of the Laibin Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and deputy director of the supervisory committee, told reporters.
According to the clues, the cadres of the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection then went to Changsha and other places to investigate and found that Zhou Fang had instructed a businessman Ouyang XX to buy an imported red off-road vehicle for him in November 2014. The actual price was 470,000 yuan.
"We have reason to suspect that Zhou Fang took bribes."
On March 20, 2018, the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of the Laibin Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection initiated a review and investigation of Zhou Fang's suspected serious violations of discipline and law and took lien measures.
According to investigations, from 2003 to 2018, Zhou Fang received 18.106 million yuan of property during his tenure as vice president, dean, and director-level cadre of Laibin People's Hospital. Another 9.30 million yuan of property could not be stated.
At the beginning of the investigation, the staff found no abnormalities on Zhou Fang's bank deposit account.
It turned out that Zhou Fang kept most of the property he received in cash, bank cards, etc., with 5 people, of which 3 were medical device vendors.
The review and investigation found that Zhou Fang accepted nearly 20 businessmen in the medical industry. The main violations of discipline and law occurred during the procurement of drugs, medical consumables, inspection reagents, and medical equipment.
On May 20, 2019, Zhou Fang was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in prison and fined 4 million yuan for the crime of accepting bribes and a huge amount of property with unknown sources.
The 10% rebate becomes a "rule", secretly notified, openly recruited and secretly determined, and bidding and procurement rules and regulations are in vain
Medical equipment Shang Yan was one of the businessmen who kept the property involved in the case for Zhou Fang.
From delivering cigarettes, wine and money, to arranging everything for Zhou Fang's son, Yan has worked hard to devote himself to his own interests, long-term business, and won Zhou Fang's trust.
From 2005 to 2011, Zhou Fang used the convenience of his position to help the medical device company where Yan worked in the sale of consumables and small equipment, and Yan gave it to Zhou Fang several times in the proportion of 10%-20% of the settlement amount. Ten thousand yuan.
"This kind of political-business relationship is definitely not benign, but everyone does it, and the unspoken rule is like this." Yan said.
Almost in the same period, medical equipment 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 bidding for medicines and medical devices. One bidder had to select 10 suppliers to bid. At that time, someone wrote a report letter stating that the rebate was given at 10%, and there were also 15% at the time. Insiders understand that they should be ventilated with each other." Wu Renguang said.
How did these huge rebates complete the transaction?
What kind of black interest chain is hidden behind such unspoken rules?
Around 2011, due to fear of being investigated, Zhou Fang temporarily gave the 1.8 million yuan that Yan gave him to Yan for safekeeping.
But later Yan used the money to buy stocks and repay the purchase price, and was unable to refund Zhou Fang, and the relationship between the two broke.
The businessman who replaced Yan as Zhou Fang's "personal butler" was his fellow villager Ouyang, the general manager of a technology development company.
Every time Zhou Fang returned to his hometown, he was almost always received by Ouyang.
In 2013, in order to cover up, Zhou suggested to Ouyang that in the future, he would not use cash to send money, and instead use a note counting method for Ouyang to take care of it on his behalf.
From 2008 to 2016, Zhou Fang disclosed to Ouyang XX several times in advance the medical equipment parameters, brands, prices and other inside information to be purchased by the Laibin People’s Hospital to help him obtain the business of selling blood pumps, photoelectric monitors and other medical equipment.
In return for providing key inside information, Ouyang XX successively gave Zhou Fang a total of 1.573 million yuan.
"The hospital department will first propose the equipment procurement plan. After internal procedures are discussed and decided, the equipment department and related departments will finally propose a plan to indicate which brand they want." As Zhou Fang said, although the Laibin People’s Hospital is in medical care Relevant rules and regulations exist for equipment bidding and procurement, but they are in vain.
Before each bidding, Zhou Fang would secretly "notify" equipment parameters, budget prices and other information to close businessmen, and asked relevant departments to "tailor-make" procurement standards according to the equipment parameters of these businessmen's agents, and invisibly decide to win the bid. Business, and then collect huge benefits from it.
The dean takes the big head and the section chief takes the small head, which seriously damages the political ecology of the hospital
The practice of open call and secret decision has turned the public bidding for the procurement of medical equipment into a "movement."
The public bidding became a "figure sheet" for Zhou Fang and others' rent-seeking power, and staged a corrupt transaction scandal of buying equipment in one hand and taking back the deductions in the other.
In order for these medical equipment to enter the hospital smoothly, the agent usually pays a bribe with "the director takes the big head, and the section chief takes the small head".
"If the briber buys which leader, the people below must also buy it at the same time, otherwise they may be reported. If the people in the department are also dealt with, everyone will be profitable, and things will be a matter of course." Laibin Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection 8th Huang Minwei, director of the review and investigation office, said.
After winning the bid for the procurement of medical equipment, in order to maintain long-term business, the agent must manage one by one from the dean to the deputy dean in charge, to the director of the department, and the clinician. Otherwise, the hospital may soon use less or even no use of this equipment. Follow-up orders are also difficult to guarantee.
"For example, after 64-slice CT is produced, doctors who need to use this device must go to learn and train. If you don't have a good relationship with them, some will not be easy to learn, and you won't be able to use it when you come back. Therefore, businessmen will get through this relationship from the bottom up. "Huang Minwei said.
"The characteristics of this industry determine that agents' hunting is not a day or two, and those who are being hunted are not one or two people, but to open up the relationship. The deeper and wider the relationship, the more the agents will Favorable." He Hu, the head of the Ninth Inspection and Investigation Office of the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision, told reporters.
Under the influence of Zhou Fang, some leading cadres of the Laibin People’s Hospital were willing to be “hunted” and used their power as a “harvest” for personal gain. This deformed upward and downward effect spread like a plague in the Laibin People’s Hospital. The political ecology of the hospital is seriously polluted.
The former vice president Xu Moumou even received 50,000 yuan in bribes from others on the day Zhou Fang was detained by the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, and continued to accept bribes of 150,000 yuan after 12 days.
"The upper beam is not straight and the lower beam is crooked. Zhou Fang, the'squad leader', also needs big money and small money, and there is a problem with his life style. Below, I feel that the leaders can do this, why can't we?" Huang Minwei said.
In 2019, Yang Wenbin, the later dean, was investigated and said bluntly, “I was the deputy dean at the time, and he was the dean. He didn’t give me any chance at all. I knew he took the money. Why didn’t I take it when I knew that he took the money?"
Hospitals that should be responsible for protecting lives, but unspoken rules prevail; doctors who should be responsible for saving lives and heal the wounded, but their minds are spent on personal gain.
In the end, the investigation of Zhou Fang's case led to several cases involving dozens of people.
Up to now, the Laibin Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection has investigated and handled more than 40 people who violated the law and discipline in the Zhou Fang series of cases, and the amount involved was more than 50 million yuan.
Adhere to the integration of the "three noes", promote strong supervision with strong supervision, and continuously strengthen and improve the governance of corruption in the field of pharmaceutical purchase and sales
The amount of money involved remains high, the chain of corruption interests is intertwined, and key positions are frequently lost. Corruption in the purchase and sale of medicines not only destroys the political ecology of the hospital, but also causes problems such as inflated prices of medicines and medical consumables, and excessively rapid growth of medical expenses. The vital interests of the masses.
"Corruption in the purchase and sale of medicines is prone to frequent occurrences, tarnishing the image of the medical and health industry, increasing the burden of medical care for the masses, and also affecting the healthy development of the pharmaceutical industry." A public official from the Laibin medical system sighed with emotion.
Taking the opportunity of investigating and handling Zhou Fang’s series of cases, the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection urged the Municipal People’s Hospital to deepen reforms by cases, formulate supervision and management measures for material procurement and bidding, standardize the "three important and one large" procedures, and only veto non-compliant issuance The subsidy item saves more than 10 million yuan.
The reporter learned from the Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision Team of the National Supervision Commission of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Health Commission that since this year, the team has focused on urging the National Health Commission, the National Medical Insurance Administration, and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine to effectively perform industry regulatory duties and vigorously rectify pharmaceuticals. Corruption in purchase and sale.
The National Medical Insurance Bureau explores the establishment of a credit evaluation system for medical prices and recruitment and procurement, and includes acts such as medical commercial bribery in the list of untrustworthy matters.
Up to now, nearly 70 companies have been subject to restraint measures due to breach of trust and breach of contract.
In January and June of this year, the National Medical Insurance Administration issued guidelines on the centralized procurement of drugs and high-value consumables to promote the normalization and institutionalization of work.
In April, the National Health Commission and other 9 departments issued the "Key Points for Correcting Unhealthy Practices in the Field of Pharmaceutical Purchase and Sales and Medical Services in 2021".
An inter-ministerial joint meeting was held in May to urge relevant departments to assume responsibility for industry governance, severely crack down on the rebate issue, and comprehensively build a “pro-clean” medical-business relationship.
In August, the National Health Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine issued the "National Action Plan for the Clean Practice of Medical Institutions and Their Staff (2021-2024)", focusing on special actions to rectify "red envelopes" and kickbacks.
In response to the current unhealthy trends and new trends in the industry, the National Health Commission revised and improved the "Nine Prohibitions to Strengthen the Construction of Medical and Health Practices" to promote the integrity of medical staff.
The relevant person in charge of the Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision Group of the National Health Commission introduced that the "three noes" will be promoted in one, strong supervision and supervision will be promoted, and the management of corruption in the purchase and sale of medicine will be continuously strengthened and improved.
Severe punishment, control chaos, and strengthen the deterrence of not daring to corrupt.
Actively build a joint disciplinary mechanism for disciplinary inspection and supervision agencies, judicial agencies, and administrative law enforcement agencies to coordinate and jointly manage, improve major cases’ consultation and collaboration, joint disciplinary enforcement, information notification, clue transfer and other systems to achieve party discipline and government sanctions, administrative penalties, and Criminal penalties are seamlessly connected; the credit evaluation system will be further improved, and joint punishments for untrustworthiness will be imposed on pharmaceutical companies that violate laws and regulations.
Promote reforms, strengthen supervision, and secure a cage that cannot be corrupted.
Continue to deepen the reform of medical recruitment and procurement, to effectively squeeze the price of drugs and consumables in a centralized and large quantity to effectively squeeze the space for high prices of drugs and consumables, cut off the black interest chain of purchase and sale; actively promote the reform of the "two-invoice system" for the purchase and sale of medicines to effectively reduce the circulation links; promote medical institutions to improve medicines , Consumables and equipment in-hospital access mechanism, strengthen the power restriction on the "top leaders" of hospitals and departments; strengthen the supervision of medical service prices and fund supervision, and strictly regulate the behavior of medical services.
Righteous behavior, tree medical ethics, and enhance the consciousness of not wanting to be corrupt.
Vigorously promote the professional spirit of the new era of medical and health care, and inherit the noble medical ethics; strengthen disciplinary and legal publicity and warning education, and build a solid ideological and moral defense against corruption and degeneration.
"The issue of corruption in the purchase and sale of pharmaceuticals involves a wide range of issues, involves large interests, has complex causes, and is difficult to manage. It must be more tenacious and effective measures to promote the realization of ecological importance in the field of pharmaceutical purchases and sales. Plastic." The relevant person in charge of the discipline inspection and supervision team said.