(ECNS) - Chinese health authorities have sent officials and medical experts to Hubei Province to investigate reports that several psychiatric hospitals recruited healthy people to pose as patients and fabricated diagnoses to defraud the country's medical insurance system, according to state media.

A spokesperson for the National Health Commission (NHC) said Thursday the agency was responding to media reports about hospitals in Xiangyang and Yichang that allegedly admitted patients in violation of regulations, fraudulently claimed insurance funds, and harmed patient rights.

Health authorities nationwide have been ordered to strengthen oversight of psychiatric hospitals and departments to standardize medical services and better protect patients, the spokesperson said.

The case was exposed by investigative journalist Han Futao of the Beijing News, who reported that multiple private psychiatric hospitals in Xiangyang and Yichang had recruited ordinary people and coached them to pretend to suffer from mental illnesses to obtain medical insurance reimbursements.

Hubei authorities have since formed a joint investigation team to examine the hospitals involved.

Separately, China's National Healthcare Security Administration said on Wednesday that provincial insurance regulators must hold collective talks with the heads of all designated psychiatric medical institutions by Sunday, as part of a nationwide effort to crack down on illegal use of medical insurance funds.

(By Zhang Jiahao)