Hospital payments reform

    Patients will be able to “pay after” receiving medical treatment as part of a new payment method, the Ministry of Health said on February 20.

    Jiao Yahui of the ministry’s medical administration division said more than 20 provincial regions are carrying out pilot programs implementing the pay-after method in public hospitals.

    Hacking allegations refuted

    China’s military spokesman Geng Yansheng said on February 20 that the country’s armed forces had never backed any hacking* activities, denouncing U.S. cyber security firm Mandiant’s report as groundless both in facts and legal standing.

    Chinese law bans any activities that disrupt cyber security, Geng said.

    Mandiant released a report on February 18 that alleged a secret Chinese military unit in Shanghai was behind years of cyber attacks against U.S. companies and organizations.

    Tax to reduce air pollution

    Beijing will levy a tax* on carbon dioxide emissions* as part of new measures aimed at addressing the country’s worsening pollution problem, a senior official at the Ministry of Finance said.

    Chen Jia, head of the ministry’s tax policy division, wrote in an article published on the ministry’s website that the Central Government should improve its consumption tax regime* to help achieve its energy-saving and emission control goals.

    PRD’s smog ‘worse’

    Pollutants in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region are more dangerous than those in Beijing because they contain higher levels of hazardous* nitrogenous organic compounds*, an expert said on February 20.

    Wu Dui, a dust haze* expert and researcher at the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, said health-threatening PM2.5 particles in the PRD contained more nitrogenous organic compounds than in central and eastern parts of China and the Yangtze River Delta.

    The compounds were mainly emitted during the manufacture of shoes and cosmetics. (SD-Agencies)