Baja agencies put restrictions on
alternative health clinics
By Sandra Dibble and Penni Crabtree
STAFF WRITERS
June 21, 2001
TIJUANA -- Mexican government officials said yesterday that they are closing
a loophole that has allowed the border area to flourish as a mecca for unproven
alternative medical treatments -- including those offered by two controversial
San Diego companies.
For decades, alternative clinics, many run by foreign operators from San Diego
and elsewhere, have drawn thousands of desperately ill patients to Tijuana for
experimental therapies.
Now, for the first time, Mexican immigration authorities will seek the approval
of local health officials as they decide which foreigners should be allowed into
Mexico to practice medicine and other health-related professions.
"It will help us have a lot better control over these clinics and what they are
doing," said Dr. Alfredo Gruel Culebro, who oversees clinics and hospitals for
the Baja California Health Department.
Baja health authorities said yesterday that they have banned alternative
treatments at a Tijuana clinic operated by San Diego-based BioPulse
International. Patients typically paid more than $27,000 for a month of therapy
that included insulin-induced comas and vaccines derived from a patient's own
urine.
Also prohibited from offering any alternative therapies is Century Nutrition,
whose San Diego-based operator, Hulda Clark, devised a low-voltage electronic
"zapper" she claims kills parasites, bacteria and viruses.
Both clinics were temporarily closed last February -- BioPulse for conducting
unsanctioned therapies and Century Nutrition for allegedly operating without a
license. But the Baja California Health Department announced the final
decisions in both cases this week. Both have been fined, but health authorities
would not disclose the amount.
When reached by telephone, BioPulse chief executive Reid Jilek said he was on
another call and hung up. Jilek and BioPulse employees did not respond to
numerous telephone messages.
Since authorities took action against BioPulse in February, the company's stock
price has fallen 91 percent. It closed yesterday at 46 cents.
Tim Bolen, spokesman for Century Nutrition, said Clark's attorneys are going
through Mexico's courts to appeal the health department's decision. Clark had
all the proper permits, he said, and should not have been closed in the first
place. Gruel of the health department "doesn't know what the hell he's talking
about," Bolen said.
Some former BioPulse clients applauded the move by Mexican authorities.
Laurel Snyder of Encinitas, whose sister, Carol Snyder, paid $22,500 for breast
cancer treatment at BioPulse's Tijuana clinic last year, said she's "happy" that
BioPulse can't offer its alternative therapies in Mexico. She said BioPulse had
promised her sister -- whose cancer has spread to her bones and is currently in
critical condition -- a more than 60 percent chance of remission.
"I don't want to see anyone else get hurt," Snyder said. "I think we were
intentionally misled -- and to abuse that kind of trust is terrible."
The changes in procedure for the Mexican federal immigration authorities come
as Baja California health authorities have struggled to gain control over the
alternative health care facilities that flourish in the Tijuana-Rosarito area. The
clinics draw most of their patients from the United States, though some fly in
from as far away as England and Korea for treatment.
In the past few decades, the region has grown into a center for alternative
health therapies not sanctioned by the medical mainstream -- either in the
United States or Mexico.
Ranging from Laetrile therapy to insulin comas to shark-cell injections, the
treatments draw desperately ill cancer patients and others who say they have
lost faith in traditional medicine. Such patients staunchly defend alternative care
as their last and best hope.
BioPulse and Century Nutrition could potentially resume offering alternative
therapies if the federal government approves their requests to conduct
experimental treatments, Gruel said. But they would be limited to a small
number of patients, and they could not charge for the treatments, he said.
Clark, who was working in Mexico on a visa that describes her as a "nutritional
consultant" to the clinic, is suspended from working in the medical profession in
Mexico unless she gains clearance under the new policy, Gruel said.
Under the new rules, foreigners who wish to practice medicine in Mexico will
have to go through a series of steps, including having their diplomas translated
into Spanish and reviewed by a Mexican higher education institution.
Clark "can start the process of authorization of whatever credentials she has,"
Gruel said. "If and when she has the authorization, we will abide by it."
Health and immigration officials said recent cases involving BioPulse, Century
Nutrition and other alternative clinics woke them up to the need to coordinate
their efforts.
In the past, Mexican immigration authorities granted visas without consulting
health authorities. And health authorities reviewed clinics without questioning
immigration status.
From now on, Mexican immigration officials will consult with Baja California
health authorities over "anything that has to do with clinics, with nutrition, health,
anything that smells of medicine," said Martiniano Valdes of the Mexican
immigration office in Tijuana.
In the past, applicants would tell immigration authorities that they wanted to
work as clinical assistants and then go on to practice medicine.
"These people often make a mockery of the authorities," Valdes said. "They
have often had us fooled." |
