New Delhi/Beijing, February 7 (IANS). According to a media report, the increase in fake mental hospitals and insurance fraud in China shows that the country is struggling to deal with the elderly population.
The Diplomat recently exposed a scam in which private psychiatric hospitals were admitting patients under misrepresentations to siphon off huge amounts of medical funds from the government.
Citing Beijing News, the report cites dozens of psychiatric hospitals in the cities of Xiangyang and Yichang that offer inpatient admissions either for low fees or for free.
This comes at a time when treatment in China is generally covered under medical insurance programs, where patients are usually expected to pay a certain percentage of the cost of their treatment.
However, an undercover reporter recorded treatment costing about 140 yuan per patient per day, and claimed most of it as reimbursement from government medical insurance.
Whereas in some of these the number of patients was nominal. Some had more than 100. The patients were mainly alcoholics and the elderly who came in the hope of free food and lodging.
Additionally, the reporter found conditions in hospitals to be extremely poor, where physical and verbal abuse was common. Patients were also forced to clean the hospital, bathe other patients and do other odd jobs.
The special thing is that some hospitals made it difficult for patients to leave after admission, and this would continue for many years.
“This highlights the limitations of China’s current eldercare system, which assumes that most elderly people will be cared for by their families at home,” the report said.
“Many of the elderly recruited for the scam came from rural areas, where pensions are low and government services weak. Additionally, countless villages have been emptied as working-age people seek work elsewhere, leaving many elderly isolated from their families,” the report said.
–IANS
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