(Ecns.cn)--Ma Yueling, China's "Godmother of health," is being investigated by Nanjing's local health supervision authorities for offering illegal medical treatments. The 48-year-old former nurse said that she can cure many kinds of terminal illnesses by treating the patients with raw loaches (a type of fish), Chinese angelica, and other high-caloric foods.
Although she has no license to practice medicine, Ma created a personal website to provide treatments to ASL patients online, which has also brought her many followers and lots of money.
Ma is not the first Chinese style "miracle-cure doctor" or "health expert" whose strange ways of keeping healthy and giving treatments has been highly criticized by medical experts, but deeply believed by the public. Before her, Zhang Wuben, a once-popular Chinese diet therapist, who claimed that mung beans and eggplant could cure many chronic diseases, was found to have faked his credentials in 2010.
Most of these "folk doctors" gained their fame by writing books or through television programs, introducing traditional Chinese medical practices and theories to common people. However, they usually don't have any formal education in the medical sciences or licenses to give medical treatments. With their excellent eloquence and convincing manners, they win over lots of believers. Moreover, the most important commonality among them is that they are all good at taking advantage of their fame to make money.
No matter how ridiculous their treatments are, they have a large number of loyal followers and the healing effects of their "magical treatments" are being believed across the county. Some patients even give up standard treatments in hospitals and turn to them for help.
"The frequent appearance of Chinese-style 'miracle-cure doctors' shows Chinese customers' ignorance and credulity," said one netizen on sohu.com. "Some Chinese people lack basic knowledge of medical sciences, and are easily fooled by TV advertisements and the media. While making decisions, they follow popular trends instead of having their own opinions," he added.
Actually, it is not totally the fault of the Chinese common people. "The strong belief in Chinese traditional medicine blind patients," said one comment published in the Beijing News Wednesday. People believe that there is a magical power existing in the long-history of Chinese medicine, and it may even be more effective than Western medicine. The appearances of these "folk doctors" who introduce Chinese medicinal knowledge and encourage the use of traditional secret prescriptions easily resonate with their wills.
On the other hand, an unsound Chinese medical system is also pushing the public to these "folk doctors." Zheng Yi, a 30-year-old Shanghai resident, told his despair to the China Daily when talking about his "terrible experience" in a hospital. "My wife suddenly got a fever two years ago and we immediately went to a famous local hospital where a low-spirited doctor checked my wife carelessly," he said. "We spent quite a long time queuing up for medical checkups, which cost us more than 1,000 yuan. But the doctor, looking at a pile of reports, said the cause was uncertain. You cannot imagine how depressed my wife and I were at the time," Zheng said.
While commenting on Zhang's popularity, Wen Jun, professor at East China Normal University's Institute of Social Development, said: "The public's disappointment with conventional treatments in hospitals has forced some people to turn to alternative methods. The difficulty and high cost of getting medical services keeps them away from hospitals and has them seeking quick solutions."
Moreover, there is a complete set of business channel behind those "folk doctors," the Beijing News commented. Taking the case of Ma Yueling for example, the businesses of books, foods, medical treatments, and internet advertisements on her site has expanded surrounding Ma Yueling's fame. "The cost of a box of regular guyuangao (a kind of Chinese medicine made from red dates and donkey hide glue) may be only several yuan, but it can be sold for over 100 yuan if it has a Ma Yueling brand logo pasted on it," Niu Qing, a member of the China ASL Care Club told the Beijing News. "It is cheating consumers," he added.
As Chinese people are increasingly paying attention to health and there is a rising disappointment with the current medical system, the "miracle-cure doctors'" business model has improved with their ability to avoid legal sanctions. Ma is just one part of a business team, the newspaper said. Certain book publishers and media have also played an important role in the process of creating these myths.
