Ban medical ads to protect public health
10/3/2006 17:24
Chinese lawmakers and political advisors in their annual full sessions in
Beijing have called for a comprehensive ban on all medical advertisements,
accusing most of such ads of "cheating and misleading" consumers and
"endangering public health."
"Nowadays medical advertisements about hospitals
and medicines are flooding the Chinese media, and some of them are full of
appalling lies," said Kang Jiaoyang, a member of the 10th National Committee of
the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top
advisory body.
In some medical ads now published or broadcast on the Chinese
media, "miraculous cures" have been found to diseases globally recognized as
incurable, such as cancer, AIDS and hereditary sterility, said Wu Liying, a
deputy to the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), the Chinese legislature,
from Northeast China's Liaoning Province.
"Falling for these lies, many
patients have suffered from delayed treatment and even lost their lives," Wu, an
official with a district health department in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning,
added.
According to Feng Shiliang, a CPPCC National Committee member from
Liaoning, each year around 2.5 million people in China take the "wrong
medicines" due to the misleading of medical ads.
Despite a strict ban on fake
or misleading information in commercial ads imposed by the existing regulations,
cheating and exaggeration have been rampant in China's medical ads due to
behind-the-scene collaboration between hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and
media organizations, said Huang Taikang, another NPC deputy.
"The hospitals
and pharmaceutical companies are paying big money for publication and broadcast
of cheating ads, while some immoral media organizations simply turn a blind eye
to the fake information for the pursuit of profits," Huang said.
As a result,
many hospitals and pharmaceutical companies in the country have "gathered huge
wealth overnight" at the cost of the welfare, health and even lives of consumers
and patients, accused the lawmaker.
The two advisors, Kang and Feng, both
called on the government to ban medical ads in the country "according to
international common practice."
"I strongly advocate a comprehensive ban on
medical ads, just like the ban on cigarettes ads," said Kang. "As for the
public's need for medical information, it can be met through the regular,
authoritative release by health and drug administrations."
Medical
advertisements have come under fire at the annual NPC and CPPCC sessions for
several consecutive years, leading to stricter ads regulations and sporadic ban
on fake ads by some local industrial and commercial departments. But a complete
ban on such ads is yet to be put on the agenda.
Xinhua
|
