China's Health Ministry said Wednesday it has ordered its Beijing bureau to investigate the Peking University's First Hospital for alleged illegal medical practice that caused the death of a professor.

The ministry said in a statement that the Health and Education Ministries had issued a special regulation on clinical internship for medical students, which mandates that medical students are forbidden to provide clinical services without a qualified doctor's supervision.

It pledged to publicize the result of the investigation as soon as possible.

Prof. Xiong Zhuowei with the Peking University died of pulmonary failure after receiving a backbone surgery in the hospital affiliated to the university on Jan. 31, 2006.

Wang Jianguo, Xiong's husband who is also a professor with the university, later brought a lawsuit against the hospital for illegal medical practice after he collected a series of evidence showing that the medical staff involved in her wife's death were still medical students.

Those students hadn't acquired professional qualifications when they were on internship in the hospital, but they were tasked with observation and diagnosis during Xiong's surgery as well as the rescue procedure in the name of doctors.

The Beijing West District People's Court made the first-instance verdict on the case in July this year, which ruled that Xiong's death had a cause-and-effect relationship with the hospital's medical practice and the hospital should be responsible for all compensation to Xiong's families.

According to China's Law on Licensed Doctors, unqualified individual who does not acquire a medical practising certificate is prohibited from undertaking medical activities.

The hospital has appealed to the Beijing Higher People's Court for a second trial that falls on Thursday.