Siberian “healers” caught out profiteering from made up illnesses
Local head of Federal Service for Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare Aleksandr Ivanov described the procedure of the examination:
“Putting headphones on a client, they handed him two electrodes and showed a computer-generated image of allegedly infected organs,” Ivanov says.
Usually there was more than one. One seven-year-old boy was diagnosed with ten serious illnesses, including gastroenteritis, pancreatitis, and myocarditis. Subsequently they took from the all-but-dead boy’s parents about $300 for medicine, which was a bioactive ingredient from China.
In an attempt to broaden the mock-diagnosis’ list, they added Latin ones like “Tania pisiformis proglotidas” – a disease that affects cats and dogs, or “Moniezia scolex proglotidas” – something that affects cattle.
The bioactive ingredients were often out-of-date, which were found suspicious by some patients, who eventually turned the healers in.
Ironically, a cutting edge hospital worth about $1 million was built in Shabalino three months ago.
