China Herald: Bribes are part of the health care business model

Shaun Rein

Giving bribes to doctors and hospitals is illegal, and goes against the beautiful mission statements many pharmaceutical companies have written. But if you want to expand your drug business in China, there is not other way than paying bribes, tells business analyst Shaun Rein in NPR.

NPR:

"It’s a systemic problem. It’s certainly not a GlaxoSmithKline problem," says Shaun Rein, author of The End of Cheap China.

Salaries for doctors in China average less than a thousand dollars a month. As a result, bribes are an integral part of China’s healthcare system.

"Foreign pharmaceutical brands are caught in a conundrum," says Rein. "In order for them to sell into China, they have to give bribes. Because that’s what the Ministry of Health and that’s what hospital administrators and doctors are forcing them to do. If you don’t give a bribe, you can’t expand here."

Rein suspects the government is singling out GlaxoSmithKline because it wants to put an end to the corruption in China’s healthcare system and it’s easier to target foreign companies to scare the entire industry.

More in NPR.

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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