China’s Ministry of Health is to ban hospitals from buying expensive medical equipment on their own, a move that is part of a widening campaign against corruption in the health sector.

The imposition of a system of “collective purchasing” for medical devices costing more than Rmb2m ($250,000, €196,000, £135,000) is also intended to prevent foreign suppliers from selling relatively untried equipment in China, according to state media. The new rules could hurt local sales of international suppliers such as GE Healthcare and Philips Medical Systems, which see China as a strategically important growth market.