Public Hospitals:Save Lives First, Charge Second

The Guangzhou Government is working on a draft law on its Regional Emergency Medical System. One provision raising eyebrows is the fining of 20,000 Yuan, or 3,000 U.S. dollars to public hospitals that reject people who need first aid because they don't pay for their treatment on the spot.

However, many hospitals say that if patients don't pay for their treatment, hospitals will seriously lose money.

"Xinhuanet" carried an article saying there is no excuse for public hospitals to reject patients because their obligation is to save lives.

The article says many leaders of local public hospitals say the lack of government funding would make it difficult for them to abide by such a regulation.

But the article criticized it as an excuse because those who don't pay for their treatment only account for a small part of hospitals' patients.

Therefore, the few non-payment cases cannot result in a big loss for public hospitals.

In addition, public hospitals have increased their fees for medical treatment due to the lack of government funding, so they should make a sacrifice for people who need first aid, even if the patients will not eventually pay the bill.

The article reiterates public hospitals' obligation, saying they should save lives first, and charge patients second.