Traditional Chinese medicine is extremely popular but poorly regulated.
A Chinese healer, who was linked to the deaths of more than 140 people in the 1990s, has been arrested for killing a 23-year-old college graduate with poisoned soup just two years after his release from prison.
Hu Wanlin was taken into custody in Henan province after patient Yun Xuyang was found dead with a high level of toxic sodium sulphate in his system. Police suspect the poison was ingested in a herbal broth.
The 64-year-old ‘doctor’ was imprisoned in 1999 for illegally practicing medicine, reports the South China Morning Post. Thousands would flock to receive his “miracle water” remedies, which were also found to contain high levels of sodium sulphate. Although never proven, authorities suspect his victims number in three figures.
Hu, who has only completed primary school education, was said to have begun studying qigong traditional healing while serving a prison term for manslaughter in the 1980s.
[SCMP]