Securities Times | Report says 80% of government medical investment serves party and government cadres

@Securities Times: [Report says 80% of government medical investment serves 8.5 million party and government cadres] Media found during an investigation into the official consumption of leading cadres that a retired provincial-level cadre spent as much as 3 million yuan for a single hospitalization. In 2006, former Vice Minister of Health Yin Dakui disclosed a survey report by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, stating that 80% of government medical investment served a group of 8.5 million people, mainly party and government cadres. However, since then, officials have rarely disclosed such data specifically.

Some netizens noticed that shortly after the release of this news in 2013, the Chinese Academy of Sciences refuted the news, claiming that “our institute has not released any relevant survey reports and data.”

Afterwards, Beijing Evening News responded to the rumor, and a commentary stated that “this rumor seems a bit weak to the public who are eager to know the truth”:

Why not tell the public the data that is definitely in line with the actual situation? A vice minister of health, can’t he even figure out such data? If it is really unclear, wouldn’t it become that rumors have data support, but the truth does not have data support? Whether it is debunking rumors or academic research, policy making, if you say that other people’s data does not conform to the actual situation, it is best to come up with one that conforms to the actual situation, and you can’t always have the truth absent, and the actual situation absent.

Beijing Evening News: 80% of medical resources are used for cadres? The “realistic” is really unclear

It is reported that the statement that “80% of government medical investment serves party and government cadres” originated from a public speech by Yin Dakui, the former Vice Minister of the National Health Ministry, in 2006. His original words were:

Among the medical expenses invested by the Chinese government, 80% is for the service of 8.5 million people, mainly party and government cadres (Chinese Academy of Sciences survey report); according to the Ministry of Supervision and the Ministry of Personnel, there are 2 million cadres at all levels in the national party and government departments who have been on sick leave for a long time, of which 400,000 cadres have long occupied the cadre wards, cadre hostels, and resorts, with an annual expenditure of about 50 billion yuan.