Stories of incompetence in Chinese hospitals are common. There was the man in Hainan who was diagnosed as having a menstrual disorder. Earlier there was the Shenzhen woman who was told that her prostate was normal. Now, serious allegations have been made about systematic corruption at Shenzhen hospitals.

Sixteen managerial staff at 13 Shenzhen hospitals are under investigation for accepting bribes, according to Hexun News. Among the suspects are nine people who hold the role of president or vice-president of their hospitals, and seven who are heads of administrative departments. The city’s procuratorate issued arrest warrants for the sixteen on June 5 after receiving tip-offs and conducting an investigation.

The suspects include the president of Henggang People’s Hospital Kong Deqi, the secretary of Pingshan New Zone People’s Hospital Cai Junming. Other suspects include a worker at No. 6 People’s Hospital and a departmental head at Shenzhen Maternity Hospital. When Kong was arrested for investigation on June 5, many police cars showed up at the hospital and many of his staff watched as he was taken in to the police car. At 5 p.m. on the same day, a person involved with the investigation went to Kong’s office on the seventh floor of the hospital to announce that Kong would return after the matter had been resolved.

According to witnesses, Kong returned to the hospital at 6.30 pm on the same day in his Audi A6. Many other staff at the hospital are expected to be questioned as part of the investigation, which is one of the largest of its kind in the city’s history.

The health care system is widely criticized in China. Earlier this year, the majority of respondents to a survey cheered the murder of a doctor. Netizens have reacted angrily to the news of the arrests. Sina Weibo user Heshihong cfn described Shenzhen as a paradise of bribery. Another, Coffee Sister Sunny, opined that China does not have a place in which bribery is not rife.