Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    SIX years into a medical reform that Shenzhen has been piloting for China, the city has realized some accepted practices and written them into a law that is the first regional medical law to be enacted in China.

    The law, in the pipeline for three years and put into effect yesterday, stipulates ways to deal with hot issues like doctor-patient disputes, scalpers, punishment of malpractices by medical service providers as well as doctors, and patients’ rights.

    “As Shenzhen’s medical reform enters a ‘deep-water zone,’ we need to consolidate our achievements by writing them into a law,” Vice Mayor Wu Yihuan told reporters Friday. “The law will escort the next-step of reforms.”

    The law allows hospitals to use the same name they used to apply for a medical practice license to apply for a business license, making it possible for the first license of its kind in China to be issued Friday to Shenzhen Far-East Maternity Hospital.

    Previously, a hospital couldn’t use its name to obtain a business license. It had to use a different name for the business license, which often caused trouble to operations regarding commercial, tax, and social insurance authorities as well as banks.

    The law contains punishments for assaulting doctors and scalping. Shenzhen police arrested 46 people for assault on doctors and six scalpers for selling hospital reservations last year.

    Patients are entitled to obtain their medical records within six hours of making a request, the law says. Doctors and medical service providers will be suspended from practicing if too many penalty points are added to their licenses within a certain period of time.