Hospitals need more than mortality ceilings

A recent draft of the standards on medical services capabilities issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission has proved controversial, as the commission has set some specific "mortality ceilings" for China's Class-2 and Class-3 general hospitals.

The draft stipulates there should be no more than eight deaths for every 1,000 inpatients and no more than 1.4 deaths for every 1,000 inpatient operations in Class-3 general hospitals; while for Class-2 general hospitals, there should be no more than four for every 1,000 inpatients and no more than 0.28 deaths for every 1,000 inpatient operations.

These proposed mortality ceilings have drawn widespread suspicion and criticism as people are questioning whether the proposed limits will encourage hospitals to refuse to admit patients in a critical condition or prompt them to force patients with no hope of recovery out of hospital. Under such a rigid system, how to prevent hospital managements from fiddling the numbers is also a big problem.