China prosecutors told to improve handling of health-related crimes

China's Procurator-General Cao Jianming urged prosecutors at all levels to intensify efforts to deal with health-related crimes to better safeguard the lawful rights and interests of medical workers.

Cao, head of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), made the remarks on Tuesday during a symposium with representatives of the National People's Congress and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee in the health field.

Cao stressed that crimes that severely disrupt the social order should be strictly punished, including deliberately injuring, killing, insulting and lodging false accusations against medical workers as well as other acts that restrict the freedom of medical workers or endanger the public order in health institutions.

In particular, he stressed a focus on using the Internet to incite doctor-patient conflicts and trigger mass incidents that could have severe consequences.

Prosecutors were also urged to cooperate with other government departments to eliminate illegal medical practice, health-related fraud and the manufacturing and sale of counterfeit or substandard medicines targeting pregnant women, children and critically ill patients. Endi