Drug sale reforms; Autistic children abused; Tibetan monks don't get hypertension; Guangzhou's first private clinic; Doctors stabbed in Fuzhou; Tax breaks for private health insurance

by MICHAEL WOODHEAD
The move to stop county-level hospitals from deriving their income from 15% markups on pharmaceuticals will severely dent their revenue stream and threaten services, health economists have warned. China has already trialled  drug commission bans in 300 county hospitals and now plans to extend the system to 1000 hospitals nationally, Caixin reports. However, the plan could leave hospitals short of funds and thus reduce the level of services and hurt the morale of medical workers,  academics and doctors say. The State Council has said local governments should help hospitals to make up for the lost income from drug sales. However,Wang Zhen, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said local governments were already strained financially and they don't have extra money for hospitals.Wang said that without government subsidies and other measures in place, scrapping the markup practice might wind up creating other problems because hospitals will find alternative ways to make money.

Children with autism in China face experience high rates of physical abuse from their parents and family members, a study from Henan shows. In a survey of 180 children with autism, Zhengzhou researchers found that 36% had recently experienced severe physical maltreatment such as slapping on the face, being beaten with objects or kicked. Less severe physical maltreatment such as being slapped, or shaken was experienced by 86% of autistic children.

Tibetan monks have low rates of hypertension, according to a study carried out in Gansu. The survey of 984 monks found that 19% had hypertension, compared to 34% of the local population. However, despite having low rates of high blood pressure, there were also low rates of awareness, treatment and control of hypertension among monks, the researchers found.

Encouraged by new government policy a surgical oncologist has opened Guangzhou's first major private clinic. The clinic set up by Dr Lin Feng will offer speedy diagnosis and high quality treatment by a well known surgeon previously practicing at the renowned 3rd Hospital of Guangzhou. The clinic charges about 2-3000 yuan fees, and offers high quality diagnosis and surgery without the long waits and rushed consultations of public hospitals, its operators say.

Two doctors at a Fuzhou hospital were stabbed in an attack by a 66-year old male patient, local media report. One male and one female doctor were seriously injured by the man armed with a 40cm knife who had been attending the Fuzhou hospital to have his haemorrhoids treated. A hospital spokesman said the man was unhappy with the treatment he received for his haemorrhoids and stabbed a female doctor in the hip. The male doctor who tried to restrain him was also stabbed in the arm.

Tax breaks are to be introduced for Chinese consumers who take out private health insurance, the government has announced. People who spend more than 2,400 yuan on commercial health insurance policies per year will now only pay individual taxes on income above 3,700 yuan per month, instead of 3,500 yuan, CCTV has reported. The move is part of a government campaign to encourage Chinese people to  purchase private health policies in addition to their standard government benefits.

What the Chinese can learn from Tibetans about hypertension

by Michael Woodhead
I've always wondered why Tibetans could be so healthy when they seem to subsist on a diet composed of dairy and meat, perhaps with the odd potato thrown on the fire. 

One of the staples of the Tibetan diet is tsampa - the butter 'tea' which is more like a salty yak butter tea-milkshake. This is not your EasyWay shake - tsampa is made with barley and is often accompanied by a glob of fermented yak milk sometimes known as kurut - similar to the products seen in Xinjiang.

Now it seems there is a hidden healthy component of Tibetan dairy products that has powerful antihypertensive properties, as strong as the drugs prescribed by western cardiologists. The blood pressure lowering effects come from the fermented milks produced by 259 Lactobacillus helveticus - a kind of probiotic ACE inhibitor if you like. Something in the Lactobacillus has potent effects on Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE), the same system that is the target of modern antihypertensives such as enalapril.

In a recent study conducted by dairy technologists at the Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Huhho, the fermented milk product was found to contain antihypertensive peptides that lower blood pressure by about 12 mmHg for six to 12 hours. That is fairly impressive BP lowering - and would be useful in a typical hypertensive patient with a systolic BP of 140/95mmHg who wanted to get to a target of 120mmHg.

As well as keeping Tibetans healthy, Dr Chen Yongfu and colleagues say the newly-identified probiotic/peptide may have potential as "a valuable resource for future development of functional foods for hypertension management."

A Tibetan fairy tale in Beijing: woman has stroke but has no family to pay medical fees

There was a happy ending for a 19-year old Tibetan woman called Dorje Tso who had a stroke while living in Beijing. The woman was taken into the Xuanwu hospital over Chinese New Year by friends when she showed signs of a severe stroke, which is unusual at that age. Doctors did a CT scan and diagnosed an embolism that required immediate treatment. However, the young woman had no money and no family with her to assent to the treatment while she was in a coma. Doctors tried calling her family in Qinghai but her parents were unable to speak Mandarin, only Tibetan. With only a four hour treatment window, they then desperately tried calling her sister who was in Shenzhen. However, the sister believed the call was a hoax and did not believe the request for medical fees was genuine, but a scam. One of the surgeons then took pictures of the Tibetan patient in the hospital with his mobile phone and texted them as a phone message to the daughter, who eventually agreed to her sister having treatment. Neurosurgeons then operated on Dorje and were able to remove the embolism, after which she made a good recovery.  One of the doctors involved  in the operation told the story on WeChat and it created great interest. One netizen was so moved by the story that he offered several thousand yuan to pay Dorje's medical bills.

Eight Tibetan medical students get five years in jail for protesting

Medical students were angry at disparaging remarks made by Chinese about the Dalai Lama

Eight Tibetan students of the Sorig Lobling medical school in Chabcha, eastern Tibet have been sentenced to five years in prison even as the school continues to remain under strict surveillance for the third straight week.
The eight students have been identified as Rabten, Wangdue Tsering, Jampa Tsering, Choekyong, Tashi Kunsang, Dola Tsering, Sangye Dhondup, and Kunsang Bum.
Speaking to Phayul, Shawo Dorjee, a Tibetan living in Switzerland said that all those sentenced were below 23 years of age.
“The students were sentenced on December 5 on charges of their involvement in the students’ mass protest in Chabcha on November 26,” Dorjee said citing sources in the region.
“Chinese authorities have accused the eight students of leading the protests because of their role as school prefects.”
It is not known where the students have been jailed.
On November 26, over a thousand Tibetan students from the Chabcha Sorig Lobling School staged a major protest rally against the Chinese government, raising slogans calling for freedom, equality of nationalities, freedom of language, respect for truth, and re-establishment of governance.
Chinese armed forces used violent force to break up the demonstration, injuring many young protesters and hospitalising around 20 students. The school was subsequently placed under complete lock down and Chinese security forces barred students from meeting their parents and relatives.
The next day, three of the medical school’s students, Wangchen Tsering of Ba County, Mama and an identified student were arrested in connection with the protest.
At the beginning of this month, three Tibetan monks of the Chamru Monastery, identified as Sungrab Gyatso, Dragsang, and Yeshe Sangpo were arrested for their reported role in sending out information on the protest.
According to earlier reports, arrested students were interrogated, tortured, and barred from having any visitors.
The protest were triggered after local Chinese authorities distributed a ten-point political questionnaire to the students, critical of the self-immolation protests in Tibet and gave “patriotic education” sessions that contained disparaging remarks against His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Source: Phayul