solarz
Brigadier
Overuse/misuse of IV therapy for minor illnesses is a massive problem in China and it is estimated that 390,000 people die each year due to complications resulting from IV therapy. Outpatient IV therapy isn't even practiced in most countries outside of China because IV therapy requires close supervision in order to avoid potentially very serious complications that include hypothermia, pulmonary oedema and death. In Chinese hospitals you'll see entire outpatient wards full of people with IV packs dangling over their heads. Ask them why they're here and most of them will say it's because they have a cold and the doctor has prescribed them several days of IV therapy with antibiotics. The main reason why IV therapy is over-prescribed in China is simple: money. Doctors and hospitals get kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies for prescribing their drugs and IV therapy is more expensive than oral medications.
The paediatrician mentioned at the end of the article is also lying through his teeth. The symptoms that the deceased girl displayed shortly before her death - discomfort, shock, and breathing difficulties followed by cardiac arrest and death - are symptoms strongly associated with an adverse reaction to IV therapy. God this whole thing makes my blood boil.
Thanks for the information. I remember when I got a cold in China about 10 years ago, and my parents took me to the hospital. The doctor mentioned in passing that IV would cure the cold much quicker, but of course there was no way I was going to let them stick a needle in me for a common cold. She ended up prescribing me some vitamin C tablets.
