From Chinese Press

Medical care a study in contrast

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-07-05 07:53

The local Party committee of Rong'an county in Liuzhou city, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, recently decided to reward medical professionals with 400,000 yuan ($61,862) for saving an official's life. Though it's natural to be thankful and to even reward a doctor/s for saving a person's life, medical professionals whose bounden duty is to provide the best medical treatment and to save lives anyway should not get special attention, says an article on eastday.com. Excerpts:

People have always known that officials get special medical care. But providing an official with super special medical treatment and rewarding medical professionals more than handsomely to save his life are something that people cannot digest.

In contrast, a piece of video on iqilu.com shows that a man in Linyi city, Shandong province, has kept one-third of his skull in a relative's refrigerator after an accident a year ago, because he cannot afford to pay for surgery.

Perhaps not being able to afford the cost of surgery is "normal" for many people. But it becomes more than painful for them to accept that apart from taking super special treatment for granted, an official also has his colleagues and friends offering lucrative rewards for his medical treatment.

It is not known how people in Liuzhou meet their medical needs. But one thing is certain that Liuzhou city does not offer "free medical treatment to all its residents".

So why have Rong'an county officials used taxpayers' money to reward medical professionals for saving an official's life? How many people could get life-saving and essential medical care from the 400,000 yuan offered as reward to the medical professionals, who in any case are duty-bound to do their best?

We should respect and protect our heroes, but we should not forget the grassroots people - many of them real heroes. And officials should not breach the bottom line of social equity.

(China Daily 07/05/2011 page9)