(Ecns.cn)--"I couldn't accept such a result, so now I'm going public through the media with what I've found out. No question, I will be in danger, but I am not afraid," Zheng Youqing, a supervisor at the Health Supervision Institute of the Xiamen Municipal Health Bureau in Fujian Province, told China Youth Daily on Thursday.
In October last year, Zheng was assigned to investigate a fraud case at the local Guotai Hospital. After obtaining conclusive evidence of various illegal medical services in July this year, Zheng reported her findings to the municipal Health Bureau, which then imposed administrative punishments on the hospital, including warnings, fines and a suspension of its business license.
However, the hospital simply ignored the penalties and continued doing business as usual. More surprisingly, all of the punishments were later successfully repealed following administrative review.
An explanation for the decision from the Xiamen Legal Affairs Office claims that "for the sake of social stability, the Office decided to cancel the punishments, since more than 200 employees would lose their jobs and Guotai would suffer huge losses."
"More than 200 employees? No Way!" cried Zheng when she heard the news. She then took out a payroll that showed that Guotai only has about 90 staff, some of whom, according to Zheng, don't even work at Guotai at all, but still get paid somehow.
"During the investigation and administrative review, I was exposed to things that I had never experienced before. Guotai just flew in the face of the law, and some leaders even fought to protect it, distorting the truth and ignoring the facts," Zheng said.
"The hospital definitely has no respect for the law, according to which its business license must be revoked if its illegal earnings reach 3,000 yuan or its number of unlicensed doctors exceeds two. The illegal gains of Guotai have amounted to over 400,000 yuan and nine of its medical staff are unlicensed," she added. "If such a hospital cannot be punished, how can we enforce and uphold the law?"
Zheng recalled that some senior officials from the municipal Health Bureau had previously warned of the probable consequences of the "let-alone policy" being applied to Guotai – because it is a maternity hospital, any misbehavior there could put two lives in danger. But their efforts proved useless to make the Legal Affairs Office change its mind.
In September, a senior from the Office claimed that though the practices at Guotai were highly illegal, the punishment of revoking its business license would not be applied because it would cause social instability.
Sun Faming, vice head at the Legal Affairs Office, argued that "the decision was made after thorough consideration. We should give top priority to social harmony and stability and offer Guotai an opportunity to mend its ways and start anew."
Sun told Zheng that "unhealthy developments indeed happen to private hospitals."
"Speaking of social stability, what if the victims of Guotai cause disturbances? Won't they disrupt the public order?" wondered Zheng.
Realizing that the hospital was resuming its old ways, Zheng decided to put up a desperate fight by making full use of the evidence she had collected.
Months ago, she submitted her reports to city-level, provincial-level and even central governments, suggesting that administrative punishments on Guotai should be meted out. However, nobody responded to her appeals, according to China Youth Daily.
Moreover, since the very first day she took over the Guotai case, Zheng has receiving threatening text messages, saying things like "Guotai will get you in big trouble."
But even local police have been unable to help. A chief officer warned Zheng that "Guotai must have very strong backing to treat you this way."
Zheng was later "framed" by the hospital after she saw three dead fetuses from allegedly induced abortions there in May. However, Guotai denied any induced abortions and claimed that the dead fetuses were brought to the hospital by law enforcement officers.
One of Zheng's former employees was also beaten badly and could not find a job for months after providing leads and evidence for her. "We can't even protect the witnesses," she said guiltily.
Although they support Zheng, her relatives and friends worry about her. "It's not possible for you to change the reality, nor to cure the chronic diseases of society. Please put safety first," one of her relatives once told her.
"I'm doing this for the victims, most of whom are farmers. Government officials never go to hospitals like Guotai, so they wouldn't understand the pain of being cheated. I know very well that I will offend some people, who will surely try to stop me. But I believe I am doing the right thing," Zheng explained.
