A Chinese psychiatrist who took 64 mental patients with him when he moved to a better-funded hospital has sparked debate about doctors’ professional freedoms as China tries to encourage private capital to enter its strained healthcare system.

一名中国精神科医生在跳槽到一家资金更充裕的医院的同时，还一并带走了64名精神病患者。在中国尝试鼓励私人资本进入其不堪重负的医疗体系之际，这起事件引发了对于医生执业自由权的争论。

A state-run hospital in the southern province of Guizhou notified police last week when Yang Shaolei, its director of psychiatry, transferred all but one of his ward’s patients to a privately backed rival after submitting his resignation.

上周，中国南部省份贵州的一家国有医院报警，原因是该院精神科主任杨绍雷在提交辞职报告后，将该科室除一人之外的所有患者都转到了一家民营背景的同业竞争医院。

Over the weekend, Guihang 300 Hospital vowed to sue Dr Yang, attacking his actions as “an organised violation of medical consent and medical professional guidelines . . . which tramples on industry rules for healthy competition”.

上周末，贵航三〇〇医院(Guihang 300 Hospital)宣布将采取法律途径追究杨绍雷医生的责任，谴责其行为是“一起有计划、有组织，严重侵犯监护人知情选择权、恶意违反医务人员执业操守、恣意践踏行业良性竞争规则……的恶性事件”。

However, others have hailed Dr Yang as a champion of professional freedoms for China’s low-paid doctors, who are treated akin to civil servants with medical licences and are generally tied to a single hospital.

然而，有人却将杨绍雷医生称赞为中国低收入医生执业自由权的捍卫者。中国医生虽持有医师执照，但他们的待遇与公务员类似，而且通常被束缚在某一家医院。

Reformers have tried to relieve the burdens on public hospitals, in part by encouraging investment of private capital into healthcare. In 2015, China’s health minister called on physicians to moonlight in the private sector where they can command higher salaries.

中国的改革者试图部分地通过鼓励私人资本投资医疗体系来减轻公立医院的负担。2015年，中国卫生部部长曾鼓励医师到能获得更高薪金的民营医院兼职。

Yet while several high-profile private sector businesses have invested in hospitals, many say their public counterparts have prevented their best doctors from moving to private institutions.

然而，虽然多家知名民营企业都对医院进行了投资，但很多企业称，公立医院一直在阻止最优秀的医生跳槽至民营医院。

“Local governments wouldn’t want to see that happening,” said He Jingwei, a professor at The Education University of Hong Kong. “They see that they have spent so much effort and resources in training doctors and want to keep them. Private healthcare in China is still very undeveloped.”

“地方政府不希望看到这种情况发生，”香港教育大学(EdUHK)教授和经纬说，“他们看到，自己在培养医生方面花了如此多的精力和资源，当然想要留住他们。私营医疗服务在中国还很不发达。”

Reports compared the scene of Dr Yang loading his patients into ambulances as they moved to better conditions to the 1975 film One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, in which the character played by Jack Nicholson rails against poor conditions in a psychiatric hospital and encourages patients to escape. “Formally, there is nothing wrong with what he did,” a Shanghai orthopaedist surnamed Tan told the Financial Times.

媒体报道将杨绍雷医生把自己的病人带上救护车并转移至条件更好的医院，比作1975年电影《飞越疯人院》(One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest)中的情节。在该片中，杰克•尼科尔森(Jack Nicholson)饰演的角色不满精神病院糟糕的环境，鼓励病友们逃出这里。“理论上，他做的没有任何错，”上海一名谭姓骨科医师对英国《金融时报》表示。

Local authorities said they were investigating the incident. Their response is being watched as a gauge of commitment to healthcare reforms.

当地有关部门称正就此事件展开调查。他们的应对举措将被视为一次对医疗改革承诺的检验。

Additional reporting by Xia Keyu

Xia Keyu补充报道