(April 3 and 7, 1953)
Comrades Zhou Enlai, Xi Zhongxun, Hu Qiaomu, Peng Dehuai, Huang Kecheng, He Cheng[1]:
This report by Comrade Bai Xueguang[2] has profoundly exposed serious problems in the leadership aspect of the Military Commission Health Department, pointing to extreme bureaucratic practices among them.
[1]
Huang Kecheng was then serving as Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. He Cheng was then serving as Minister of the Health Department of the People's Revolutionary Military Commission and Vice Minister of the Central People's Government Ministry of Health.
[2]
Refers to the report submitted on March 27, 1953, by Bai Xueguang, Director of the Political Department of the Military Commission Health Department, to He Cheng, Minister of the Military Commission Health Department, Huang Kecheng, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, and Xiao Hua, Deputy Director of the General Political Department, regarding several major problems in the leadership work of the Military Commission Health Department. The report pointed out that while past military health work had seen great achievements, many problems also existed, primarily:
First, too many subordinate units were set up, and the departmental leadership was bogged down in the administrative affairs of directly subordinate units, lacking guidance for the military-wide health professional work and the professional work of the directly subordinate units, and sometimes providing no guidance at all. Second, leadership was not centralized. Minister He Cheng often worked at the Central People's Government Ministry of Health. The several ministers rarely met together to study work. Although there was a division of labor, it resulted in a situation of working in isolation, so some matters were passed back and forth and delayed. Third, there existed many serious problems:
a high incidence of medical errors
;
severe waste
;
complex composition of personnel and low leadership levels in various units
;
many cadres (political, administrative, professional) were not content with their jobs in the health department, and the Health Department lacked political and ideological leadership, failing to fully arouse everyone's enthusiasm. In response to these problems, Bai Xueguang recommended: First, streamline the organization. Second, Minister He Cheng should return to the Military Commission Health Department to take charge. Third, earnestly launch an anti-bureaucracy campaign and strengthen political and ideological leadership. Fourth, it is hoped that the Party Committees of the General Political Department and the General Logistics Department will strengthen leadership over political work in the health departments and assign a necessary core of backbone cadres.