Hospital care for the poor

A compensation system should be established to encourage hospitals to save the lives of emergency patients who cannot afford the care, says an editorial in China Youth Daily. An excerpt follows:

In the national work meeting last week, the Ministry of Health stressed that hospitals should enforce the first-visit responsibility system in treating emergency patients. Refusing to save endangered patients should be strictly forbidden. Hospitals and doctors should insist on the emergency room principle of treat first and pay later.

Medical workers should shoulder the noble responsibility of healing the wounded and saving the dying. Hospitals must not give up their social responsibility for profit making.