Medical reforms make doctors no longer the scapegoats of the system

Regarding the view that “doctors are the scapegoats for the system”, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Deng Haihua, responded to a question at a regular press conference today. He said that the unreasonable factors in the current health system and mechanism distorted the behavior of medical personnel and encouraged the medical institutions. The trend toward profit-making has led to large prescriptions and large-scale inspections, which has increased the burden of people seeking medical treatment. "The ongoing reform of the medical system is to work hard on the institutional mechanisms. While safeguarding the public interest, the health care industry will develop healthily and doctors will no longer be scapegoats."

Recently, when people focused on the high drug prices, they suddenly discovered that hospitals and doctors were the most important renters. Therefore, all kinds of accusations arose. Zhuang Yiqiang, deputy secretary-general of the China Hospital Association, responded to these accusations by saying that “in the process of drug pricing, hospitals are not involved, and hospitals only have enforcement rights without pricing rights.” “Hospitals are like two sheep. The first is a scapegoat because the system The design leads to the status quo today, but the patient's anger is spread on the hospital; the hospital is like a silent lamb, and the doctor would rather be silent during the medical reform process."

In this regard, Deng Haihua believes that although the current system of “taking medicine to support medicine” has played an active role in history, its drawbacks have become more and more obvious and serious over time. Medical institutions rely heavily on drug sales to survive, and their profit-seeking motives and behaviors naturally occur. This seriously erodes the medical staff and promotes the unreasonable rise in medical expenses. It also brings people pain.

However, people do not have a specific feeling about the system and mechanism, but they directly vent those angers to doctors and hospitals. Because they saw the fact that most of the medicines produced by pharmaceutical factories are sold to hospitals, and most of the medicines used by patients have to be bought in hospitals. The hospital is a two-way monopolist. There are several alternative medicines for a disease. A patient often has multiple diseases and needs to take many medicines. Therefore, the doctor's hand is the most direct hand that determines the total drug price.

Deng Haihua said that the just-concluded National Health Work Conference in 2012 had already proposed that the “drug-for-medicine” should be completely cancelled during the “12th Five-Year Plan” period. "In order to safeguard the interests of the public, for the healthy development of medical and health services, but also for this team, doctors will no longer do 'scapegoats' and doctors will not be eroded. This is the health department, including our association with other departments.' A work that must be vigorously promoted during the 12th Five-year Plan period."