City officials of Shanghai have a blunt warning for so-called
"medical peddlers": your days are numbered.
Peddlers are known to prowl reputable hospitals and persuade
patients to go to cheap, illegal clinics, where many patients have
been known to get more than they bargained for complications from
surgery and cheated out of their money.
The campaign against medical peddlers is listed for the first
time among "eight projects" planed by the city authorities for
2007.
Shanghai has many highly reputable hospitals and most are
patrolled by peddlers.
Such hospitals include Huashan Hospital, Ruijin Hospital and No
9 People's Hospital where more than 100 peddlers work every
day.
Zhang Jiawen, a staff member with Huashan Hospital said the
peddlers no longer limited their movements to the hospital lobby,
and approached people at the nearby subway station to beat the
competition.
And it has turned violent for some.
Zhang Tianyu, a senior director with the Eye Ear Nose and Throat
Hospital of Fudan University, was beaten up in front of the
hospital last November by a group of peddlers after Zhang spoke out
about their cheating ways.
Under the new crackdown, those who hire peddlers to get business
will "face strict punishment", officials said.
Peddlers will be targeted in known spots by teams working in
cooperation with agencies including the city's public health bureau
and local police.
(China Daily March 1, 2007)