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QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> Opinion -> 
Fraud under the cover of health care
    2019-01-21  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

Wu Guangqiang

jw368@163.com

ELDERLY citizens have long been the chief victims of fraud of all sorts. Besides telecom fraud, the most deceptive form of chicanery for the aged is the “health-care products” that come in great abundance and variety.

Taking advantage of senior people’s desire for good health and longevity, swindlers do all they can to coax these vulnerable people into buying at exorbitant costs what they believe could cure their diseases or enable them to live longer. Many of the victims use their retirement nest egg to buy a bunch of useless trash. Some even exhaust their life savings or have to borrow money from their relatives, only to find themselves cheated. A few victims even ended their own lives in despair.

The swindlers act brazenly and recklessly. They are disguised as miracle-working doctors possessing a cure-all. Their false ads inundate media. And most importantly, they have a protection umbrella provided by some officials.

However, the long-standing and long-neglected issue now stands a good chance of being dealt with in earnest thanks to the exposure of a fraudulent empire: Quanjian, a Tianjin-based company.

On Dec. 25, 2018, Dingxiang Doctor, a health information exchange platform, laid bare how Quanjian caused a young girl to die of cancer as a result of giving up chemotherapy for a drug whose efficacy had been vouched for by the company’s chairman Shu Yuhui.

Zhou Yang was first diagnosed with cancer at the age of 4 and after four operations, her father was contacted by Shu, who claimed that he possessed a secret anti-cancer drug that could cure the girl. Buying his story, the girl’s chemotherapy treatment ended and she started taking Quanjian’s herbal medicine. Three months later, however, her cancer had metastasized, and chemotherapy was resumed in March 2013, but it was too late. The girl died in December 2015.

It was later found out that the so-called anti-cancer drug contained nothing but starch and sugar. Yet, her father found ads online that falsely claimed his daughter had already been cured by taking Quanjian’s drugs.

The girl’s tragedy highlighted a stunning fact: the scourge of fraud under the cover of health care has been harming the public for too long. Quanjian had been running amuck for years without any oversight or punishment.

The business of the “empire” ranged from the sale of health products and cosmetics to medical care, financing, sports and real estate development, purportedly with annual sales totaling 20 billion yuan (US$290 million). But in nature, it was a pyramid scheme (MLM company) and almost all its products and treatments were fake or useless.

It is said that millions of people across the country were involved in Quanjian’s pyramid scheme, selling such outlandish products as “health-care insoles” and “anion sanitary napkins” allegedly capable of curing numerous diseases. In addition, it boasted over 7,000 franchised outlets specialized in fire therapy, in which the patient lay in bed with a towel covering his or her back before the alcohol-drenched towel was ignited. The ensuing half-meter-high flame was claimed to be able to treat a wide range of diseases including brain atrophy, nearsightedness and gynecological diseases. Some patients ended up suffering burns of different degrees.

The exposure led to the collapse of the fraudulent empire. On Jan. 13, Shu Yuhui, along with 15 other suspects, was arrested in connection with organizing and leading an alleged pyramid scheme. The company’s products have been taken off shelves.

But, wiping out such schemes is no easy job. There are hundreds of Quanjian-like companies across the country and some are even larger than Quanjian. Their advertising bombardment does appeal to many aged people.

My mother, who died at 100, never used any health-care products, while my father-in-law and almost all my elder relatives have devout faith in them. They are not to blame, for most such things are advertised on official media, including major State TV channels, and sold in drug stores.

Every product boasts its secret recipe and magical powers, but why are these products, most of which are categorized as food, allowed to be sold and advertised as drugs?

More stringent legislation must be made to manage the market. Health-care products should be strictly defined and regulated. Any product categorized as food mustn’t mention therapeutic effects.

(The author is an English tutor and freelance writer.)

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