Dr. Hu vs. China’s Health Care System — Part III
January 22nd, 2007
Submitted By: Ashley Smith
Dr. Hu Weimin is a doctor in Loudi, China. He specializes in hypertension, one of the main killers in China, and high blood pressure. He provides about 7,000 poor Chinese with free medical advice and provides them with extremely cheap prescriptions. He does all of this out of his own clinic, a clinic that is an old coal shed outside the Loudi Central Hospital. Now you may be asking, “Why is his clinic outside the hospital?” Well, Dr. Hu has been banned from the hospital and shunned by the rest of the doctors. Why would a completely public service oriented doctor be kicked out of the hospital? Because Dr. Hu is bad for business.
Two thirds of the people in China cannot afford medical insurance and have to pay out of pocket every time they need medical attention. What makes this worse is that not only do doctors get a base salary but they also gets a bonus for each prescription written, test ordered, and operation performed. This has caused most doctors to write completely bogus prescriptions to inflate their own salary and it’s all at the expense of the poor and rural populations of China. The people of China have voiced their opinion and they want change. The Chinese government claims that medical reform is a top priority but has yet to do anything about it. It seems as though they can’t do anything about it because the power the hospitals hold outweighs the voice of the public ten fold.
The hospitals do not want change for the same reason the Loudi Central Hospital does not want Dr. Hu to practice medicine. Every person that chooses to see Dr. Hu for free is a prescription that the hospital will not write. It is money the hospital will never receive.
This article appeared in the Wall Street Journal on January 16, 2007, and here are some of the questions I asked and that you may want to think about while reading it:
- How does China’s medical system and health care compare to ours?
- What caused these doctors to care more about the money than the people they are suppose to be helping?
- What can the government really do to create a more public service oriented medical care system? If there are ways to change the system why haven’t they been done sooner?
- How is this lack of medical care going to effect the aging population of China?
- The prescription drug companies know their medications are being over prescribed. Do they have a responsibility to step in or is it really just a matter of business?
- On a side note, why has there been such a rise in hypertension, blood pressure, and other cardiovascular conditions in China? Could it be all that beef McDonalds is trying to promote?
[Professor Carr Addendum: I thought it was interesting that three students chose this article. A good article and choice. I publish all three posts here, because you can compare and contrast which parts of the article they found interesting, how the article struck people differently, etc. See also the related earlier blog post Not All Is Well in China: Access to Health Care. I also have a question -- will economic and geopolitical superiority in the future also in large part be determined by which countries deal the most effectively with these types of health care issues?]
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, Beijing, China, Misc.
4 Comments Add your own
1. Lonnie | January 22nd, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Two of many articles I have written on the topic…
I am very close to the issue…Five students this year, all 22 or under, were diagnosed with cancer….NONE of them has the funds to complete treatment…
China’s next revolution will begin in the countryside where people are dying for want of healthcare…
http://www.onemanbandwidth.com/wordpress/?p=263
http://www.onemanbandwidth.com/wordpress/?p=512
And the old one: http://www.onemanbandwidth.com/wordpress/?p=107
Best,
LBH
2. Chris Carr | January 23rd, 2007 at 10:37 am
Hi Lonnie. These are stunning and sobering posts. Thanks for sharing and educating us about one of the warts of China.
3. Chris Carr | January 23rd, 2007 at 10:42 am
Good posts and articles.
Here is a “management of people” item I would like students to think about. As I read the article about this doctor, clearly, he and his hospital/supervisors differed on how this should be handled. This in turn raises the issue of renegade employees. I am not suggesting that what he did was right or wrong, but it clearly angered his supervisors.
How would YOU have handled and managed this employee in China?
What about in the at-will employment environment of the US?
What about in a UNIONIZED environment?
Is there any way to work with an employee like this to allay his concerns AND make it a win for the company, as I am assuming this is a bright and talented doctor you want to keep and replacing him will not be easy? I.e., don’t assume that you can/will just fire all employees who rock the boat — or you may find that you have few people left over to staff your firm.
Discuss.
Again, welcome to being a manager. More time than you know will be sucked up on personnel and leadership issues once you finish your MBA. You must perfect this skill quickly or you will be eaten alive (or become so stressed out if you can’t handle the pressure cooker that you will need to be sent to the loony bin for treatment).
4. Joe Callinan | January 26th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
The problem with the current health care system in China is that it is structured in a way that encourages doctors to take advantage of the poor health conditions. Now I am in no way attempting to claim that the doctors are innocent, as they are knowingly prescribing unnecessary medicines in order to fill their wallets, but if the base salary of doctors is set at a substandard level they are almost placed into a position that tempts their morals. Besides, we have to remember the same things happen in the US. Doctors receive commissions and bonuses, dentists are paid more with each pair of braces they put on and roofers are paid more with each roof they replace. The real problem that needs to be addressed is the number of people in China without medical insurance.
As a side note, while I agree something needs to be done about the medical situation in China, why is McDonalds being brought into this discussion? Nobody is forced to eat McDonalds, smoke cigarettes, or drink alcohol, yet the companies producing these goods are always having the blame put on them. The focus of this article should be on reforming the current health care system in China and addressing the ethics of the Chinese doctors, not on McDonalds. When McDonalds is brought into the situation it takes the focus away from the real problem.
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