Health writer has no medical license

By Jane Chen | May 28, 2010, Friday |

Online Edition

A MAN who shot to fame in Beijing by prescribing food recipes to improve health has no doctor's license for his clinic, a check by medical and market watchdogs found.

No medicines were found at the Wubentang office except food such as green beans, cabbages and eggplants when Chaoyang District's health bureau and industrial and business administration launched the check yesterday, officials told today's Shanghai Morning Post.

Though the office has a business licenses, it has no permit for clinical medical activities and none of its staff has a doctor's license, officials said.

They said further investigation is needed before determining whether the health consultations were deemed to be illegal medical practice.

Wubentang's business has boomed after its founder Zhang Wuben published a best-selling book "Eat out the Diseases You Have Eaten" to promote his recipes.

Zhang, 47, a Beijing native who claimed in the book to have studied at night school at Beijing Medical University, advised large intakes of green beans and eggplants to combat diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

An insider said bookings for clinic's consultations were full until 2012, though the reservation charge of up to 2,000 yuan (US$293) is about 100 times the cost of seeking a doctor at a major hospital.

Fu Donghong, publicity director of Beijing University's Medical School, which encompasses the former Beijing Medical University, denied Zhang had studied at the school.

And doctors described Zhang's prescriptions of green bean soup as ridiculous, adding that everyday intake of the soup could be poisonous.

Doctors with Beijing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital said they have seen a sharp increase of patients who developed symptoms in the past two months after eating too many green beans following Zhang's theory.

Zhang's popularity is also blamed for the price rise of beans, which now cost around 20 yuan per kilogram, up from last year's 8 yuan.

Nation

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Health writer has no medical license

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