Scandal reveals privileges and misconduct in the Chinese medical training system in China

May 16, 2025- (Beijing) A scandal with Bella Dong Xiying, a former doctor from the China-Japan friendship hospital in Beijing, triggered outrage throughout China and triggered the light on alleged privileges and systemic defects in the country's medical training system. Dong, which was involved in an extramarital affair with the senior surgeon Xiao Fei, now looks with severe punishments, including the revocation of their medical approvals and the cancellation of their academic evidence.

The controversy around Dong has drawn attention to the “4+4” program at the Beijing Union Medical College (PUMC), an elite pilot program with which top graduates of non-medical disciplines in medical practice were awarded a four-year doctoral curriculum in medical practice. Dong, who acquired a bachelor's degree in economics at Barnard College in the United States, completed the program in just four years and bypassed the conventional decades that were necessary for most medical specialists in China.

Investigations showed that during her program application of 2019, Dong has falsified a dilapidated for academic dishonesty with her doctoral thesis and published research with plagiarized material. Their quick progress through the medical system, including the completion of a three -year residence in just one year, has raised questions about the integrity of the “4+4” initiative.

The scandal has also shown Xiao Fei, a former deputy Chief Surgeon, who was released from his position, from the Communist Party and released his medical license. It was found that the 38 -year -old Xiao hired several extramarital relationships with a dong and professional misconduct. In July 2024, Xiao left an operating room in the middle of the process and left an anesthetized patient unattended for 40 minutes.

The case has reinforced the exam of the “4+4” program from PUMC, which was originally developed to integrate multidisciplinary education in medical training and the extraction of diverse talents. However, critics argue that the system was co -opted by privileges and that children enable children to avoid traditional academic and professional hurdles. It is reported that the parents of Dong hold high -ranking positions and continue to cheer on the public resentments.

The National Health Commission (NHC) has promised extensive reforms to eliminate the programs of the program, including stricter admission standards, improved clinical training supervision and enforce academic integrity. The scandal has triggered more comprehensive debates about social inequality and meritocracy in China's medical and education systems and highlighted the obstacles of ordinary students who strictly studied and train years in order to achieve them.