Recently, according to official media reports from Zhongxiu, you can obtain a health certificate with “a little money,” and in some cases, without any medical examination at all. Under capitalism, such health certificates cannot guarantee any food safety; they are merely tools for the bourgeoisie to amass wealth.
A health certificate is a preventive health check certificate, mainly involving infectious diseases such as dysentery, typhoid, tuberculosis, and skin diseases, used to ensure the physical health of personnel in food and drug production, catering, drinking water, and public service industries. It is usually valid for one year.
However, as revealed by CCTV news, this “guarantee of consumer safety” health certificate can be bought for a small fee.
It is reported that two CCTV reporters, 15 years apart in age and dressed and styled completely differently, exchanged ID cards and medical examination data, and went to a community health service center in Shijiazhuang for a health check. They encountered no identity verification procedures and smoothly obtained the health certificate.
To investigate the reliability of the health check, the reporter used soybean paste as a stool sample for testing. Three days later, he received two genuine and valid health certificates. Subsequently, he even sent an empty test tube and still received the same results. However, during the process of obtaining the health certificate, various phenomena that defy medical common sense occurred repeatedly, while the fee for the health check remained at 90 yuan. It is evident that such health certificates cannot guarantee anyone’s health but are merely tools for various hospitals under Zhongxiu to profit.
The issuance of health certificates also involves various opportunists. CCTV reporters contacted a health certificate broker who claimed to hold titles such as “medical staff,” “hospital staff,” and “business personnel,” and said he could help obtain a health certificate. In these “processing agencies,” the original cost of over 100 yuan for a health certificate was marked up with group purchase or promotional prices after discounts. One salesperson said there was no need to go to the hospital or undergo any examination; just pay the inspection fee to get the health certificate. Through such channels, the reporter again obtained a health certificate stamped with the “qualified for food personnel health check” seal, and the valid identity information could be verified online.
It is clear that in capitalist society, even people’s “health” can become a commodity, openly priced, discounted, or on sale. Such capitalism in China also cannot guarantee the health of the working people. The exposure by Zhongxiu’s official media is actually an open secret, and various “hospital staff” and “genuine” health certificates all prove that Zhongxiu’s hospitals are fundamentally unable to “save lives and heal the wounded,” but are instead a dazzling array of merchandise on display.
The feeling is that the Nazi report is trying to divert attention from the recent Pucheng incident.
Zhongxiu reported this matter, which is actually shooting oneself in the foot, because health certificates are originally issued by hospitals authorized by the local government, and generally small clinics are not qualified to conduct inspections. Moreover, this kind of formalism is something the working people are very clear about, so after this news was released, the comment section was full of sarcasm: “You can get a health certificate by paying money, do health certificates not cost money?” Zhongxiu’s report on this matter probably has other motives.
In plain terms, the health certificate is a kind of tax imposed on the vast number of workers in the service industry. The Nazi health certificate was only valid for one year, and it was also required that service workers obtain this health certificate. The cost of the health certificate ranged from about fifty to ninety yuan, and every year, a sum of money is extracted from the poor Chinese people again.