Doctors and patients say no to 'red envelopes'

A Beijing hospital is taking the lead in implementing the national health authority's demand to reject money or luxury gifts from patients, but some people remain wary over the extent to which this will help to curb corruption.

In March, doctors at China Meitan General Hospital began signing agreements with their inpatients. In the agreements, doctors and the hospital state that they won't accept "red envelopes" or luxury gifts from the patients, and the patients promise they won't give such items to their doctors.

The hospital is the first in Beijing to sign such agreements with its inpatients, as the National Health and Family Planning Commission required in a circular issued in February, said Wang Ming xiao, president of the hospital.