Monday, October 05, 2009

Finally, they're getting it out. I'm glad the Star published this yesterday, which prompted a statement from the DG.

PETALING JAYA: There’s a scam going around and what they are after is your blood. With just a drop, unscrupulous doctors, sinsehs and alternative medicine practitioners claim they are able to diagnose a host of illnesses, ranging from vitamin deficiencies to cancer. They are able to convince their unsuspecting patients by using an impressive but discredited test method called Live Blood Analysis (LBA).
It is believed that thousands have fallen victim to this scam over the past 10 years. Alarmed by the growing number of centres offering such services, medical associations are now urging the authorities to take action against those offering LBA.

Medical doctors also criticise the test as a fraudulent practice to mislead unsuspecting people into buying unnecessary and expensive supplements or alternative therapies for non-existent medical conditions.
Malaysian Society of Haematology president Dr Ng Soo Chin said: “The society’s stand is very clear - LBA is junk science. It is a mixture of a little bit of science that is unsubstantiated and interpretations that are erroneous.

Perhaps with more public awareness maybe fewer people will fall victim to these scams. Not only are these scams costing patients a lot of money, but they may also taking them away from the care that these patients may need.