Strict oversight can ensure overseas medical tourism not hotbed of fraud

SIX PEOPLE are on trial in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, for operating a medical tourism scam targeting wealthy Chinese. Guangming Daily comments:

The defendants organized tours to Dubai for more than 1,000 people from across the country, who were invited to have "medical consultations" after which they paid a total of 650 million yuan ($97 million) for so-called anti-cancer treatments and medicines, which turned out to be commonplace physiotherapy and cheap health products.

The scam, which remained unchanged for months, was not that complicated, but it proved to be highly effective in duping the victims into paying for their belief in foreign countries' "advanced" medical systems.