Hospitals criticized for illegal stem cell practices

The Ministry of Health on Tuesday published a national circular to criticize two hospitals in northeast China's Jilin Province for illegal medical practices related to stem cells. The practices included illegal advertisement, employment of unregistered medical workers, disorderly management and using illegitimate names of medical institutes. Local health offices have revoked the license of one of the hospitals and ordered the other to suspend operation for rectification. The legal administrators of the two hospitals were also criticized in a notice within the province. The ministry said that flaws still exist in medical institutes and clinical research in stem cells needs further improvement. It also urged health offices at all levels to supervise hospital management more closely and deal with illegal medical practices in a timely manner.