How bad are the local governments’ finances in China? A piece of recent Chinese news gives a clue.
A hospital in a northeastern coastal city has not paid its employees since March, according to a video report from state-run Chinese media The Paper.
While the COVID pandemic was blamed, the hospital administrators admitted that the hospital has not paid pension insurance and provident funds since the year 2000 due to the hospital’s poor performance.
In reaction to the news, Chinese netizens said that this is not an isolated case and many indicated that they themselves were also the victims of their local hospitals. One responded: “It’s all too regular. Our county hospital has paid us on the basis of ‘once a year.’”…