Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/02/2020
By: Hau Hsueh-chin and Joseph Yeh

Packets of Chinese medicine with excessive levels of lead/ Photo courtesy of the Health Bureau of the Taichung City Government

Taichung, Aug. 2 (CNA) A doctor at a Taichung-based traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinic has been suspended for prescribing drugs containing heavy metals that led to lead poisoning in at least nine patients.

The city's Health Bureau has suspended the Sheng Tang Chinese Medicine Clinic's (盛唐中醫) chief practitioner Lu Shih-ming (呂世明) for 30 days for giving patients medicines with excessive levels of lead, said bureau director Tseng Tzu-chan (曾梓展) at a press event.

Lu was also fined NT$100,000 (US$3,000) for not recording the parts of the prescriptions containing heavy metals in the patients' medical records, in violation of the Physicians Act (醫師法), according to Tseng.

The case has been handed over to the Taichung District Prosecutors Office for further investigation, and Lu could face a maximum NT$500,000 fine for the incomplete patient records.    [FULL  STORY]