“only $80 is required to obtain a health certificate without a medical examination, the electronic version is available the following day and the paper version is sent home for three days.” on 22 may, journalists received reports of institutional and personal irregularities in the sale of false health certificates. Following that lead, journalists contacted the certifying party and processed and received “health certificates” claiming to be applicable to different scenarios。
Health certificates, which are legal documents proving the health of practitioners and preventing the risk of disease transmission, are essential for ensuring public health safety and regulating the operation of the industry. Laws and regulations, such as the food safety act, the regulations on health in public places, and so forth, make it clear that food producers who work in contact with directly imported foods, persons who work directly for customers in public places, etc., are required to take up their posts with a “health certificate” and, in subsequent cases, to undergo regular medical examinations and to update their documents。
However, a survey of workers ' daily journalists found that the issue of health certifications arose from time to time, and that some false health certificates could be obtained at a cost of between $80 and $200, without having to undergo an under-line medical examination. According to some certifying parties, health certificates for online platform testing could be produced and sold. Why does a health certificate make a false impression and how does it close a false loophole? Journalists interviewed the incident。
I can't find out
“a phone call, an address, a photo of the identity card on the reverse side can be sent home in three days.” on 25 may, journalists contacted the “recommended” certifying officer of the whistleblower, claiming that only $150 and personal information would be required to obtain a health certificate exclusively for food-producing operators and that it would be true that it was “a genuine document issued within the hospital, without fear of investigation”。
The following day, journalists received health certificates and related certificates sent by the certifying officer, consisting of three materials: health certificates for medical examinations with the official seal of a chinese medical hospital in beijing, health cards with the words “health certificates for practitioners in beijing” and 2-dimensional health cards, as well as certificates for training in health legislation. Previously, journalists had not carried out any inspections and training。
Journalists scan the 2-dimensional code on health certificates and see a page on a website that displays information on personal health certificates. However, the journalist's identification of the document in the beijing city health identification system showed “no information on the person's application”。
In response, the certifying party stated that the 2-dimensional code was a “network of accreditation hospital officers”. After careful comparison, journalists found that the site was highly similar to that of the official health identification system in beijing, which contained only five letters。
Journalists were informed that, in addition to physical health certificates, electronic health certificates were produced and sold by the certifying parties, and were committed to ensuring that only $20 would be required to pass through the partial offline testing of the platform. The journalist contacted another witness and only 10 minutes after submitting his personal information, he received an electronic “health certificate” from the other party. Subsequently, journalists were denied permission to upload the health card on several occasions at the request of the crowd of riders on a delivery platform。
The risks of false testimony cannot be ignored
“health certificates are a `firewall' between consumers and disease and a `health pass' for practitioners to enter the relevant industry.” deng yong, director of the center for research and innovation on the rule of law in health and health, beijing medical university, stated that the phenomenon of health certification presented a high risk to public health and resulted in the loss of industry credibility。
In accordance with article 45 of our food safety act, persons suffering from diseases that hinder the safety of food, as defined by the state council's health administration, are prohibited from engaging in work involving access to directly imported foods, and food producers are required to conduct an annual health check and obtain a health certificate before they can be placed on duty。
In the absence of any health certificates from journalists, the results of tests for various types of diseases, such as cholera, viral hepatitis and active tuberculosis, all show “qualified”。
Zhang aydong, a lawyer at guangdong yiuwen law office, told journalists that false health certificates were not simply a paper issue and that, in practice, they could pose a direct risk to public health if the person whose health condition does not meet the requirements of a special practice holds a false health certificate and moves to a special position。
With regard to the reasons for the false health certificates, deng yong believes that the profit drive is an important reason. “some health-care institutions and labour intermediaries treat health certificates as business and profit from them by simplifying the process, providing `advisory' services or making false certificates.”
“the low cost of violating the law is also an important reason.” according to zhang's analysis, under the regulations governing medical institutions, the minimum penalty for issuing a false health certificate is a "warning " , which can be imposed in cases of “inflicting harmful consequences” of between $10,000 and $100,000, often on the basis of the consequences of harm, whereas there are relatively few cases of so-called “incurring harmful consequences” that can be genuinely proven。
There is a need for a comprehensive and multi-pronged response to false images
How can we close a false health certificate? Deng yong recommended that the relevant authorities should strengthen their supervision and penalties and apply “tourity checks” to medical institutions involved in forgery, and that intermediaries in the sale of false certificates should be given penalties for offences against public safety and financial penalties should be increased, and those using false certificates should be placed on a blacklist of good faith and their qualifications restricted。
“in addition, improved management mechanisms through technological innovation.” deng yong further recommended that a unified national health certificate management platform should be set up to achieve one-coded, coded and traceable, real-time monitoring using big data and timely warning of anomalies。
In recent years, measures have been taken to intensify efforts to combat health fraud. In beijing, for example, joint inter-agency law enforcement continues to be carried out in order to check strictly the health certificates of the operators involved, with a focus on whether they have valid health certificates, whether they are published, and whether they are valid, etc., and to correct violations。
Liu xin, director of the medical law and research centre of the chinese university of political science and law, believes that, with the rapid development of information technology, health certificate management procedures should also be kept up to date, such as the placement of a chip in the document, the establishment of an online document identification system and technical means to trace health certificates。
“the relevant authorities shall also elaborate the categories of health certificates and the corresponding positions.” liu xin considered that the number and scope of health certificates could be carefully harmonized, and that it would be possible to specify which jobs must require a health certificate from the worker, and to publish a detailed list of jobs. In addition, the health certificate examination and the issuing agency should be strictly regulated and required to provide certification of qualifications and control from the source. (reporter chan dandan)
Catallogs: 11,5814; contentid: 138,98219; public: 2025-06-07; author: zhang weiyang; file: 17,49,266,10526-7b5a03a6-b22c-4d36-9ae7-8a40c68851; source: 29; from: daily worker; timestamp: 2025-06-0711:23:27;
