Beijing uncovers 59 bogus "military" hospitals

BEIJING, Jan 17 (Reuters) China's military has named and shamed 59 illegal businesses selling drugs and treatments under the guise of army-endorsed medical clinics in Beijing, a Chinese newspaper reported today.

Promoting themselves as ''People's Liberation Army medical institutes'', many of the businesses were little more than back-room surgeries hidden in apartment blocks and online drug mail-order businesses, the Beijing News said.

''Almost all of them were linked to Web sites ... showing many pictures of 'experts' dressed in uniform and promoting drugs as the 'result of military science and research','' the paper said.

The Beijing health bureau had set up a hotline for consumers to blow the whistle on the clinics, the paper said, warning that such businesses ''had no medical qualifications and had just taken advantage of the fact that Beijing has plentiful medical resources and a high concentration of large military hospitals''.

Putting on military airs for profit and special privileges is not uncommon in China.

In September, Chinese police announced a crackdown on drivers flaunting bogus army license plates to enjoy immunity from traffic rules and avoid road tolls.

REUTERS BDP BD1049