Not what the doctor ordered
A joint campaign
In a bid to reassure the public, the government has ordered a three-month campaign aimed at tightening supervision over advertisements for medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and health foods in the media and on websites from early May until late July.
The campaign was launched on April 22 by eight government agencies, including the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the State Council's Information Office and the State Administration for Traditional Medicines.
The campaign will target adverts that make false claims, exaggerate the efficacy of the product or deliberately confuse supplements with real medicines. Also in the spotlight are those who infringe image and name rights of experts, celebrities, research institutes and patients for promotion, or have failed to gain government approval.
"We will work with related departments to integrate the supervision of resources and - in the form of joint warnings, announcements and inspections - comprehensively use financial punishments, administrative penalties and criminal sanctions to punish violators," said Gan Lin, vice-minister of the SAIC.
Long-term mechanism
"Both my grandparents have been cheated by fake medical adverts and I applaud this campaign," said Chu Tianzhu, who owns a private English language school in Beijing.
"But I still have doubts about the campaign's real effect, because as far as I know Beijing has carried out joint campaigns like this many times, but once the campaign ends, the illegal advertisements are just as active as before," said Chu.
Li Jing raised a similar point. "My parents were very remorseful after being cheated and I thought our old, quiet life would return. However, the good days only lasted a month," she said.
Her parents have now started to listen avidly to the adverts again and are planning to splash out on a type of "magic tea" that the adverts claim prevents people from catching colds.
"My parents are both in their late 60s and I really don't want to be at loggerheads with them. However, is anyone willing to witness their loved ones being cheated time and again? My father's excuse this time is that the ad is broadcast by a national radio station, and he trusts their credibility," Li said.
"Can any government agencies ban illegal advertisements? If so, please do it immediately. Lots of elderly people are being cheated and young people are suffering too. A harmonious society should not be like this," Li said.
"Eradicating these 'tumors' does not just depend on one or two campaigns, but in long-term and systematic supervision. Many people attribute the profit motive as the main reason for the spread of these illegal adverts. But from my research, I think the major reason lies in China's current system for the management and supervision of medicines," said Professor Lu.
He believes that the deluge of illegal or misleading medical adverts demonstrates that China's medical industry is still in a phase of disorderly competition.
"The only way to solve the problem is for the leaders to take public health as a starting point for management, to clarify the responsibilities of each department, and then strictly enforce the law and introduce measures to greatly increase the costs to the advertisers," he said.
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