Healthcare in China: GSK claims prompt crackdown on corruption

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On a summer day about a month before Chinese authorities revealed explosive bribery allegations against the British drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a woman in south-western Guizhou province walked into a hospital with her husband. After a routine gynaecological exam, doctors prescribed her £20 worth of Chinese medicine, some with controversial ingredients. The woman and her husband demurred, but – at the doctor's insistence– ultimately handed over the cash. "There were a lot of people in line to see the doctor, so the doctor put a lot of pressure on my wife, saying that she'd better quit resisting," the man wrote on Sohu Weibo, a popular microblogging service, under the username "Grassroots is Grassroots". He reached out to online experts for advice; of 164 commenters, many concluded that he'd been swindled. "Right now, most doctors [in China] are just as shameless as corrupt officials," wrote one. Last week, Chinese security authorities reported that GSK executives admitted to funnelling bribes to Chinese doctors and officials through 700 travel agencies and consultancies over six years. The Guizhou man's experience illustrates the ubiquity of such malfeasance in China's healthcare system – and the widespread outrage that it's caused. Hospitals that are ostensibly government-funded are so cash-strapped they must rely on drug sales to remain afloat and doctors frequently overprescribe medicines to supplement their meagre incomes. Patients end up paying inflated prices for drugs they often don't even need. The fallout from the GSK case is ongoing. Chinese authorities have detained four senior GSK executives and barred its vice-president for finance in China, Steve Nechelput, from leaving the country. In return, GSK has sent three top executives to China to deal with the crisis, including its head of emerging markets.