Beijing threatens jail for doctors who ‘defame’ traditional Chinese medicine

Amid rising opposition from doctors to its use, Beijing authorities are set to criminalise criticism of traditional remedies.

A medical worker taking a prescription of traditional Chinese medicine at a hospital in Shenyang in China's northeastern Liaoning province. Picture: AFP

The city authorities in Beijing have announced plans to criminalise criticism of traditional Chinese medicine amid rising opposition to its use by doctors and outrage at its exploitation of endangered animals.

Health officials said that critics would be prosecuted for “picking fights to disturb public order” and “defaming” the practice. Minor infractions would be punished by up to two weeks in “administrative detention”, and serious cases could lead to years in prison.

Beijing is set to ban criticism of traditional medicine. Picture: AFP

President Xi insists that traditional medicine is a “jewel” in thousands of years of Chinese civilisation and has played a “unique role” in helping the country to beat the coronavirus. He has called for a new national prevention and treatment team that uses it.

The push to promote an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year to the economy comes amid growing opposition from Chinese health professionals because of its unproven effects, and global outrage about the continued use of body parts from endangered animals in treatments, including pangolins, tigers, leopards and rhinos.

Conservationists point to increases in poaching and smuggling of wildlife from Africa. The market for lion bones from South Africa, which allows farming of the animals and the export of body parts, has doubled in recent years and male skeletons can now fetch up to $5450 (£3000).

The proposed new laws set off waves of criticism on social media. Some asked whether they would be allowed to complain about the bitterness of herbal medicines.

“What are the lines between defamation, slander and criticism, questioning, or negative comments?” Deng Xueping, a lawyer and a blogger of legal matters, wrote on the news website Netease. “If no one can criticise or question the traditional Chinese medicine but it will be gilt with gold and worshipped at the altar, then we are solidifying traditional Chinese medicine into a theology. Then, are we inheriting traditional Chinese medicine or killing it?”

He added: “The pharmacology of traditional Chinese medicine must accept any questioning, and its effects must be tested clinically, and its future must face the challenge of modern science.”

In April a Chinese doctor who had worked on the front line against the coronavirus was admonished and silenced after he criticised the response to the pandemic, including the use of the traditional Chinese medicine to treat patients.

Yu Xiangdong of Central Hospital in the city of Huangshi had written extensively about medicine, saying that traditional medicine was unproven. His account on Weibo, the social media site, had 961,000 followers at the time. Edong Healthcare Group removed Dr Yu as the hospital’s assistant dean and as director of quality management for the group. It said: “He failed to stop his followers from criticising the country’s policy against the virus and from attacking traditional Chinese medicine in the comment section, causing bad impact on the internet and in society.”

All of Dr Yu’s posts have since been taken down.

Submissions for public feedback on Beijing’s plan are open until June 28.

The Times