By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
BEIJING, China – Unlicensed clinics and illegitimate doctors are treating China’s ill citizens too poor to seek professional care. Beijing city government admits that the Chinese capital has a problem with illegal medical centers – known as black clinics.
In 2008, Beijing city government closed down more than 3,300 unregulated, and sometimes dangerous, clinics. The facilities are set up to serve the capital’s poorest people, most of whom are migrant workers who have traveled to the city in search of work. They offer a cheaper alternative to the city’s government-backed clinics and hospitals. Though less expensive, the clinics are often dirty and lack the trained medical personnel to offer professional medical advice. It is also uncertain where these clinics obtain their medical treatment and equipment.
Most of these ‘black clinics’ are found on the outskirts of the city, often near large construction sites that can employ hundreds of migrant workers. The clinics are popular among migrant worker communities because most migrant workers are left out of the health care system in cities in China. According to one construction worker, Hu, he stated, “We never visit big hospitals. It costs at least 300 ($44) to 500 yuan ($73) to go there.” This figure is significant when laborers like Hu earn a monthly income of about 1,000 yuan ($146). As a result, a recent report issued by the Chinese government shows that unlicensed clinics and illegitimate doctors still rampant on 26 streets and compounds in seven districts, in Beijing, despite government attempts to rid the city of these illegal practices.
The problem persists even though China is currently in the middle of reforming its health care system and is trying to provide everyone with basic health insurance. Officials hope to persuade poorer people that they could be endangering their health by visiting black clinics. According to one health authority, “As illegal medical practices are mainly concentrated in the hidden integration of urban and rural districts and rural areas, they are difficult to combat.”
Foreigners and many non-locals of Beijing have access to most of the public and private hospitals. It follows that, a number of foreign hospitals have become popular among expats and wealthy locals. Only by investing 20 million yuan ($2.9 million) can foreign-funded hospitals and clinics meet the government standards, in an attempt to ensure quality, and as a result, these foreign funded hospitals are more likely to accept private health insurance from abroad rather than their Chinese publicly funded counterparts – leaving poorer local citizens to fend for themselves.
For more information, please see:
Global Times – Beijing outlines ills and cures for popular but bogus clinics – November 20, 2009
BBC News – Beijing’s poor visit illegal clinics – November 20, 2009
China Daily – Illegal clinics put patients at risk – October 20, 2009
