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Over the course of more than a year, nine children with thalassemia underwent the same surgery at Guangzhou Zhujiang Hospital and subsequently died. This extremely expensive surgery, costing several hundred thousand yuan, was advertised by the hospital with a success rate of 93%. However, a CCTV investigation revealed that the attending doctor forced patients' families to purchase smuggled drugs for exorbitant profits, leading to the deterioration of the patients' conditions and their eventual deaths. The hospital also misled families with false advertisements. Currently, the Guangdong Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection has formed a special task force to investigate the matter.
The hospital publicly claimed a 93% success rate for the surgery.
Seven-year-old Dongdong had been a severe thalassemia patient since birth. His mother, Ms. Wu, stated that with regular blood transfusions and iron removal, Dongdong was no different from any other seven-year-old.
By chance, Ms. Wu came across an advertisement on the website of Guangzhou Zhujiang Hospital. Zhu Weiguo, the deputy director of the pediatric center, claimed to have a long-term commitment to curing severe thalassemia through bone marrow transplantation, with a success rate as high as 93%. This advertisement gave Ms. Wu great confidence.
In November 2004, Dongdong underwent a bone marrow transplant. However, the outcome was unexpected. Dongdong quickly developed severe rejection reactions. By January 2005, after several relapses, Dongdong's condition worsened, and he passed away.
Ms. Wu initially thought this was just a misfortune for her family. It wasn’t until months later that she realized her son’s death was not an isolated case.
Another child, Dongdong, aged 9, loved painting since childhood. His mother was a nurse, and his father suffered from uremia and had been bedridden for a long time. Their only son was the family's hope. A girl named Xinxin, aged 10, was smart, lively, talented in singing and dancing, and excelled academically.
Both families saw the advertisement for Zhu Weiguo's surgery at Zhujiang Hospital. Faced with the high success rate, Dongdong's mother, Ms. Zeng, sold two family properties and borrowed over 200,000 yuan from relatives and friends to raise the 600,000 yuan needed for the surgery. Xinxin's mother, Ms. Lin, received donations and raised 500,000 yuan from colleagues, and borrowed another 300,000 yuan, hoping to cure her daughter's illness. Neither mother could have imagined that their desperate efforts would only result in their children's death certificates.
According to the parents' records, from July 2004 to September 2005, they identified 15 children who had undergone bone marrow transplants under Dr. Zhu Weiguo at Zhujiang Hospital. Among them, nine children died, three cases failed, and three cases were unclear. The youngest among the deceased was only one year old, and the oldest was 13. The children not only used the same medications but also died within a relatively concentrated period. The surgery costs ranged from 140,000 to 900,000 yuan per person.
The doctor colluded with drug dealers to sell smuggled drugs to families.
Several parents of the deceased children stated that before and after the bone marrow transplant surgery, Zhu Weiguo advised them to spend a large sum of money to purchase certain special drugs from a man named Wang Hua, which were not available in the hospital. It was later discovered that drugs such as Endoxan, Amphotericin B, and Fludarabine, which Dr. Zhu instructed parents to buy, were available at Guangzhou oncology pharmacies.
Faced with suspicions and accusations from parents and the media, Dr. Zhu Weiguo admitted at the end of last year that Wang Hua's drugs were smuggled but insisted they could not be counterfeit. He argued, "We have always used them this way, every patient uses them, and hospitals across Guangzhou, like Southern Hospital, Zhongshan Hospital, and Maternity Hospital, all receive supplies from him (Wang Hua)." However, Hong Kong's Haowah Pharmacy stated that they had no employee named Wang Hua and had not issued any related invoices.The investigation into whether the deaths of nine children are related to smuggled drugs is still ongoing. Wang Hua, suspected of selling smuggled drugs, was arrested in April this year. Zhu Weiguo was also suspended from his position at the beginning of this year and has not returned to work. However, after the news broke, a large number of netizens on the internet called for "executing Zhu Weiguo."
Commercial bribery in China's pharmaceutical industry is quite severe. Li Xi, deputy leader of the Ministry of Health's anti-commercial bribery task force, stated at a high-level forum on combating commercial bribery in the pharmaceutical procurement field in Beijing that China loses approximately 772 million yuan annually due to drug kickbacks alone. From August last year to the end of July this year, the Ministry of Health investigated 790 commercial bribery cases in the medical procurement field, involving 1,160 individuals and amounting to 57.01 million yuan.
Three family members have filed a lawsuit seeking 2.5 million yuan in compensation.
Mr. Zhou from Dongguan and two other family members of the affected children submitted a lawsuit to the Haizhu District Court in Guangzhou last month, suing Zhujiang Hospital and demanding compensation of about 2.5 million yuan. Mr. Zhou and the other family members accused Zhujiang Hospital of improperly using externally purchased drugs, leading to the failure of the transplant surgery and the death of the patients. Currently, they have contacted four other parents and are gradually initiating lawsuits.
Related information:
"Thalassemia" is a hereditary blood disorder, with 8 million people in Guangdong Province alone carrying the gene for this anemia. Patients cannot produce enough hemoglobin and require lifelong regular blood transfusions. Due to long-term transfusions leading to increased iron levels in the body, they must also regularly take iron-removing drugs. With such conservative treatment, patients can live into their forties or fifties. @(http://www. dajiyuan. com)
Source: http://www. epochtimes. com/ b5/ 6/ 10/ 18/ n1490980. htm
Shenzhen "Renowned Doctor" Linked to Illegal Drug Dealers, 9 Children Die
The hospital publicly claimed a 93% success rate for the surgery.
Seven-year-old Dongdong had been a severe thalassemia patient since birth. His mother, Ms. Wu, stated that with regular blood transfusions and iron removal, Dongdong was no different from any other seven-year-old.
By chance, Ms. Wu came across an advertisement on the website of Guangzhou Zhujiang Hospital. Zhu Weiguo, the deputy director of the pediatric center, claimed to have a long-term commitment to curing severe thalassemia through bone marrow transplantation, with a success rate as high as 93%. This advertisement gave Ms. Wu great confidence.
In November 2004, Dongdong underwent a bone marrow transplant. However, the outcome was unexpected. Dongdong quickly developed severe rejection reactions. By January 2005, after several relapses, Dongdong's condition worsened, and he passed away.
Ms. Wu initially thought this was just a misfortune for her family. It wasn’t until months later that she realized her son’s death was not an isolated case.
Another child, Dongdong, aged 9, loved painting since childhood. His mother was a nurse, and his father suffered from uremia and had been bedridden for a long time. Their only son was the family's hope. A girl named Xinxin, aged 10, was smart, lively, talented in singing and dancing, and excelled academically.
Both families saw the advertisement for Zhu Weiguo's surgery at Zhujiang Hospital. Faced with the high success rate, Dongdong's mother, Ms. Zeng, sold two family properties and borrowed over 200,000 yuan from relatives and friends to raise the 600,000 yuan needed for the surgery. Xinxin's mother, Ms. Lin, received donations and raised 500,000 yuan from colleagues, and borrowed another 300,000 yuan, hoping to cure her daughter's illness. Neither mother could have imagined that their desperate efforts would only result in their children's death certificates.
According to the parents' records, from July 2004 to September 2005, they identified 15 children who had undergone bone marrow transplants under Dr. Zhu Weiguo at Zhujiang Hospital. Among them, nine children died, three cases failed, and three cases were unclear. The youngest among the deceased was only one year old, and the oldest was 13. The children not only used the same medications but also died within a relatively concentrated period. The surgery costs ranged from 140,000 to 900,000 yuan per person.
The doctor colluded with drug dealers to sell smuggled drugs to families.
Several parents of the deceased children stated that before and after the bone marrow transplant surgery, Zhu Weiguo advised them to spend a large sum of money to purchase certain special drugs from a man named Wang Hua, which were not available in the hospital. It was later discovered that drugs such as Endoxan, Amphotericin B, and Fludarabine, which Dr. Zhu instructed parents to buy, were available at Guangzhou oncology pharmacies.
Faced with suspicions and accusations from parents and the media, Dr. Zhu Weiguo admitted at the end of last year that Wang Hua's drugs were smuggled but insisted they could not be counterfeit. He argued, "We have always used them this way, every patient uses them, and hospitals across Guangzhou, like Southern Hospital, Zhongshan Hospital, and Maternity Hospital, all receive supplies from him (Wang Hua)." However, Hong Kong's Haowah Pharmacy stated that they had no employee named Wang Hua and had not issued any related invoices.The investigation into whether the deaths of nine children are related to smuggled drugs is still ongoing. Wang Hua, suspected of selling smuggled drugs, was arrested in April this year. Zhu Weiguo was also suspended from his position at the beginning of this year and has not returned to work. However, after the news broke, a large number of netizens on the internet called for "executing Zhu Weiguo."
Commercial bribery in China's pharmaceutical industry is quite severe. Li Xi, deputy leader of the Ministry of Health's anti-commercial bribery task force, stated at a high-level forum on combating commercial bribery in the pharmaceutical procurement field in Beijing that China loses approximately 772 million yuan annually due to drug kickbacks alone. From August last year to the end of July this year, the Ministry of Health investigated 790 commercial bribery cases in the medical procurement field, involving 1,160 individuals and amounting to 57.01 million yuan.
Three family members have filed a lawsuit seeking 2.5 million yuan in compensation.
Mr. Zhou from Dongguan and two other family members of the affected children submitted a lawsuit to the Haizhu District Court in Guangzhou last month, suing Zhujiang Hospital and demanding compensation of about 2.5 million yuan. Mr. Zhou and the other family members accused Zhujiang Hospital of improperly using externally purchased drugs, leading to the failure of the transplant surgery and the death of the patients. Currently, they have contacted four other parents and are gradually initiating lawsuits.
Related information:
"Thalassemia" is a hereditary blood disorder, with 8 million people in Guangdong Province alone carrying the gene for this anemia. Patients cannot produce enough hemoglobin and require lifelong regular blood transfusions. Due to long-term transfusions leading to increased iron levels in the body, they must also regularly take iron-removing drugs. With such conservative treatment, patients can live into their forties or fifties. @(http://www. dajiyuan. com)
Source: http://www. epochtimes. com/ b5/ 6/ 10/ 18/ n1490980. htm