Departments and ministries under the State Council, China’s cabinet, have responded to a wide range of public concerns during the past week, in areas that include food safety inspection, violence against doctors, the lack of children’s healthcare facilities and information leakage.
The price of pork, which recently surged to record highs in several parts of China, prompted some slaughterhouses and enterprises to sell low quality and even contaminated pork products to consumers, some of whom were later found to have food-borne illnesses.
In response, the China Food and Drug Administration, the nation’s top food safety regulator, pledged to strengthen the supervision and inspection of pork products’ quality and safety, and to enhance efforts to crack down on illegal business activities. The administration urged enterprises to operate in accordance with the law.
In response to another public concern, the National Health and Family Planning Commission on May 24 strongly condemned the fatal assault of a doctor in Shaoyang, Central China’s Hunan province, that happened the day before. In the incident, Wang Jun, a doctor at Shaodong County People’s Hospital, died after he was severely beaten, allegedly by a patient’s family members. Two suspects were apprehended and another surrendered to police.
The commission and the Ministry of Public Security pledged to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident and urged the local government to ensure the safety of medical personnel.
Following worries about a lack of access to children’s healthcare facilities, the State Council said a guideline released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission and other related ministries on May 23 is expected to ease the shortage of children’s medical care resources by the end of 2020. By then, the commission expects there to be 2.2 beds per 1,000 children and 0.69 physicians per 1,000 children, and at least one pediatrician at each county-level healthcare institution.
After claims were made about people’s personal information being leaked when they completed online registration procedures for national professional and technical qualifications, the Ministry of Human Resource and Social Security announced on May 24 on its website that it was carrying out an investigation, along with other departments.
The results of the probe will be announced in a timely manner. The move came after some candidates reported receiving text messages that included offers to help them to cheat or get a surrogate to take the State bar examination, according to media reports last week.
Taxation offices in Shanghai and Jiangsu province announced last week that no written documents are required in order to get a value-added tax invoice. Some media outlets had earlier reported that people in the two regions had been asked to submit copies of their business licenses and tax registration certificates.
