Local officials urged to tell H1N1 truth

The Ministry of Health (MOH) Thursday vowed to punish officials who underreport the H1N1 flu pandemic following criticism from a prominent medical expert who cast doubt on China's official death toll from the disease.

A health worker prepares a dose of H1N1 vaccine at the start of free vaccination program intended for all Beijing residents at a clinic in Beijing, China, Monday, Nov. 16, 2009. Health experts say extraordinary measures against swine flu- most notably quarantines imposed by China, where entire planeloads of passengers were isolated if one traveler had symptoms- have failed to contain the disease.

Some medical experts have wondered aloud whether the country's H1N1 data matches the reality. They pointed to limitations in medical capacity and the fact that hospitals are not testing everyone with flu symptoms for H1N1 as reasons why the outbreak may have been underreported.

But Zhong Nanshan, a Guangzhou-based doctor famous for his candor in exposing a cover-up of the SARS epidemic in 2003, took concerns a step further, suggesting some local governments had deliberately concealed suspected cases.

"I just don't believe that there have been 53 H1N1 deaths nationwide," Zhong told the Southern Metropolis Daily. He said the number could be far higher.

The MOH reported that there had been 69,160 H1N1 cases on the mainland as of Monday.

In the article, Zhong said some parts of the country - he would not say which parts - were not testing severe pneumonia deaths to see if they were, in fact, H1N1 deaths.