BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Corruption in the health care sector will be "seriously dealt with," according to a discipline inspection official overseeing the Ministry of Health.

Medical staff found to be receiving kickbacks or arbitrarily charging fees will be severely punished, said Li Xi, an official of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China (CPC), during a recent inspection tour of east China's Shandong province.

"Commercial bribery cases involving purchases of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, as well as those related to project bidding, will also be seriously handled," Li said.

Instances of embezzlement or fraud related to a new rural cooperative medicare system used to provide hundreds of millions of farmers with health care will also result in severe punishments, Li said.

Coordination between law enforcement and discipline inspection agencies should be strengthened and an information-sharing mechanism should be established, he said.

Li said reforms concerning drug pricing, payment methods and income distribution for medical workers should be accelerated in order to prevent corruption from happening in the first place.