Share Story
Send to KindleRelated News
Inquiry launched into the man with a 'recipe' for good health
By Jane Chen |
May 28, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A MAN who shot to fame in Beijing with his health-improving recipes has no doctor's license for his clinic, a check by medical and market watchdogs has found.
No medicines were found at Wubentang's offices, just plain food such as green beans, cabbage and eggplant, when the health bureau of Chaoyang District and its industrial and business administration carried out the check on Thursday, officials told yesterday's Shanghai Morning Post.
Though the office has a business license, it has no permit for clinical medical activities. None of its staff had a doctor's license, officials said.
They said further investigation was needed before determining whether the health consulting service is deemed as constituting illegal medical practice.
Wubentang has witnessed booming business after its founder Zhang Wuben's book "Eat Out The Diseases You Have Eaten in" to promote food recipes became a hit among local people.
Zhang, 47, a Beijing native who claimed in the book to have studied at night school at Beijing Medical University and was now a nutrition expert with the Ministry of Health, advised a large intake of green beans and eggplant to combat high blood pressure and diabetes.
An insider said the health consultancy at Wubentang had been booked up until 2012, though the reservation charge, up to 2,000 yuan (US$293), is about 100 times the charge for a doctor at a major hospital.
But suspicions soon arose that all was not as it seemed.
Fu Donghong, publicity director of Beijing University's Medical School, the existing entity for the former Beijing Medical University, denied Zhang had studied there.
And the Ministry of Health also denied Zhang was a nutrition expert.
Doctors described Zhang's advocacy of green bean soup as ridiculous, adding that an everyday intake of the soup could prove poisonous.
Doctors with the Beijing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital said they had seen a sharp increase of patients complaining of feeling "uncomfortable" in the past two months after eating too many green beans following Zhang's theory.
Zhang's popularity is also blamed for a price surge in green beans, which are now selling at around 20 yuan per kilogram, compared to last year's price of 8 yuan.
No medicines were found at Wubentang's offices, just plain food such as green beans, cabbage and eggplant, when the health bureau of Chaoyang District and its industrial and business administration carried out the check on Thursday, officials told yesterday's Shanghai Morning Post.
Though the office has a business license, it has no permit for clinical medical activities. None of its staff had a doctor's license, officials said.
They said further investigation was needed before determining whether the health consulting service is deemed as constituting illegal medical practice.
Wubentang has witnessed booming business after its founder Zhang Wuben's book "Eat Out The Diseases You Have Eaten in" to promote food recipes became a hit among local people.
Zhang, 47, a Beijing native who claimed in the book to have studied at night school at Beijing Medical University and was now a nutrition expert with the Ministry of Health, advised a large intake of green beans and eggplant to combat high blood pressure and diabetes.
An insider said the health consultancy at Wubentang had been booked up until 2012, though the reservation charge, up to 2,000 yuan (US$293), is about 100 times the charge for a doctor at a major hospital.
But suspicions soon arose that all was not as it seemed.
Fu Donghong, publicity director of Beijing University's Medical School, the existing entity for the former Beijing Medical University, denied Zhang had studied there.
And the Ministry of Health also denied Zhang was a nutrition expert.
Doctors described Zhang's advocacy of green bean soup as ridiculous, adding that an everyday intake of the soup could prove poisonous.
Doctors with the Beijing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital said they had seen a sharp increase of patients complaining of feeling "uncomfortable" in the past two months after eating too many green beans following Zhang's theory.
Zhang's popularity is also blamed for a price surge in green beans, which are now selling at around 20 yuan per kilogram, compared to last year's price of 8 yuan.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
