Beijing city govt passes law to protect 'non-malicious' medical whistleblowers

Beijing’s city government has reportedly passed a law to protect “non-malicious” medical whistleblowers, months after a Chinese doctor was reprimanded for sounding the alarm about the nature of the coronavirus outbreak. Li Wenliang, an Ophthalmologist, had warned about the new infection but was punished for “spreading rumours”. He later died of the disease, sparking rare public outrage which prompted legislators to come up with a new law.

According to local media reports, other medical whistleblowers also faced punishment for discussing the virus outbreak without permission from their superiors. The new law states that medical whistleblowers will be awarded and suffer no penalties if their tip-offs are verified. However, it does not cover those "fabricating or deliberately disseminating false information" about developing public health emergencies.

China, which has been ranked 177 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index, has used the coronavirus pandemic to further tighten the grip on media by banning the publication of any reports that question how it has been managed. China’s attempt to conceal information became a major concern amidst pandemic after whistle-blowers who revealed the devastation of coronavirus in Wuhan went missing.

Read: Japan Snubbed Beijing's Overture To Reduce Maritime Activities In East China Sea: Report

Read: Wuhan Nightclubs Witness Pre-pandemic Footfall With No COVID-19 Cases Since May

Crackdown on whistleblowers

In April, a citizen journalist, who had reported on coronavirus situation in Wuhan, suddenly resurfaced after going missing for almost two months. Li Zehua, 25, said in a YouTube video that he had was forcibly quarantined despite no coronavirus symptoms. He had published a video on YouTube where he tried to show the temporary porters working to transport bodies of deceased who apparently succumbed to the novel coronavirus.

Human rights lawyer Chen Quishi uploaded several videos in which he captured the footages of overwhelmed staff in Wuhan hospital due to the staggering number of patients. In one of the videos, he even said that “scared” because of getting stuck between the devastation caused by the virus and Chinese authorities. Quishi’s Weibo account was subsequently deleted on February 6 and the lawyer’s family was told that he had been kept under “quarantine” despite no COVID-19 symptoms.

Read: Chinese Virologist Claims COVID-19 Originated From Wuhan Lab, Offers Evidence

Read: China Mouthpiece Slams Criticism Of Beijing Injecting Unproven Covid Vaccine To Citizens

(Image: AP)