- Rise in fake mental hospitals scams exposes China's struggle with ageing population
- Private psychiatric hospitals admit patients falsely to claim government medical funds
- The issue highlights weaknesses in China's elder care and rural pension systems
Rise in fake mental hospitals, and insurance scams in China shines a spotlight on how the country is struggling to deal with its ageing population, according to a media report.
The Diplomat reported a recent scam where private psychiatric hospitals were admitting patients on false pretenses to defraud the government out of vast quantities of medical funds.
Citing the Beijing News, the report noted dozens of psychiatric hospitals in Xiangyang and Yichang cities, which offer inpatient hospitalisation either for a small fee or for free.
This comes as treatment in China is usually covered by medical insurance programmes, where patients would generally be expected to pay at least a certain percentage of the cost of their treatment.
However, an undercover reporter recorded treatments worth about 140 yuan per day per patient and claimed reimbursement for most of that from government-run medical insurance.
While some of these scam hospitals only had a few patients, some had well over 100. The patients were mainly alcoholics and elderly people drawn in by the prospect of free food and shelter.
In addition, the reporter found poor conditions in the hospitals, with physical and verbal abuse common. Patients were also forced into cleaning the hospital, bathing other patients, and performing other menial work.
Importantly, some hospitals also made it hard for patients to leave once they had been admitted, and it could stretch for years.
“This highlights the limitations of China's current elder care system, which assumes that the vast majority of elderly people will be cared for at home, by their families,” the report said.
“Many of the elderly people recruited for the scam came from rural areas, where pensions are particularly tiny, and government services are weaker. Moreover, countless villages have been hollowed out as working-age people seek work elsewhere, leaving many rural elderly isolated from their families,” the report said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
