Health officials fired for mismanagement, possible cover-up

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-24 10:49

Two health officials have been fired for mismanagement in the reporting of hand, foot-and-mouth disease and investigators are looking into a possible cover-up, state media said yesterday.

China Central Television (CCTV) reported that the two officials in Minquan county, Henan province, lost their jobs following a preliminary investigation by the Health Ministry. It did not elaborate on how they mismanaged reporting of the data.

The investigation follows a news report last week by China National Radio that medical staff at the county's hospital had apparently falsified medical histories in order to hide the large number of cases in the area.

The disease typically strikes infants and children, and while occasionally deadly, most cases are mild with children recovering quickly after suffering from little more than a fever and rash.

So far, Minquan has reported some 220 cases of the illness since Jan 1, while the whole of Henan province in central China has had more than 2,700 cases.

Investigators from the Health Ministry say it's unlikely there was a cover-up, but they're still looking into the case.

The CCTV report said Yang Baojun, director of the Minquan county health bureau, and Wang Zaiji, head of the Minquan county people's hospital, were fired.

Last fall, China faced one of its worst-ever product safety scandals after the industrial chemical melamine was found in dairy products, sickening some 300,000 children and killing at least six.

The government later said the dairy at the center of the crisis knew as early as 2007 that its products were contaminated and that the company and local officials covered it up ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

The China National Radio report said children with typical symptoms of the highly contagious disease had been variously misdiagnosed as having meningitis, upper respiratory infections or intestinal infections by doctors.

Hand, foot-and-mouth disease, common in young children, is characterized by fever, mouth sores and a rash with blisters.