Emmanuel Kafe
WHILE navigating Harare’s Central Business District, one is more than likely to be accosted by countless agents hawking “free body scans”.
The offer is often delivered with forceful urgency.
The persistent nature of the solicitations has made a simple stroll through the city centre a frustrating ordeal for many.
Equally, this has raised concerns about potential exploitation of vulnerable citizens seeking healthcare.
A growing number of companies specialising in herbal remedies are establishing a strong presence in the capital.
They entice potential customers with promises of miraculous cures and tailored health evaluations.
The Sunday Mail Society recently sought to uncover the inner workings of these companies.
Three reporters visited one of these companies at different times to test their systems.
After agreeing to take up the offer, the agents conducted tests using a supposed quantum magnetic resonance analyser linked to a laptop.
The agents claimed it could diagnose over 30 health conditions by analysing a person’s weak magnetic field.
“This is a quantum analyser. It is 100 percent accurate. It doesn’t use radiation but reads your body cells when you simply place your hand over it,” said a representative of one of the herbal remedy providers, who only identified himself as Bizali.
On three different occasions, each member of The Sunday Mail Society crew placed a hand on the device, and within minutes, the machine produced a supposedly detailed health analysis.
The results were strikingly similar for all the three.
However, each individual had a different herbal remedy prescribed for him, with the prices ranging from US$15 to US$40 for similar products.
Two members of the crew had more than five medications prescribed for them. They included identical drugs with varying prices.
Notably, a particular herbal remedy — protein, touted for “detoxification”— was separately offered to the trio.
However, its price differed significantly on two separate invoices: one priced it at US$13, and the other at US$26.
Similarities were also noted in the diagnoses: blood thickness, erectile dysfunction and cancer risks.
The strikingly similar results raised concern about the device’s reliability and the company’s motives.
Digital health expert Ms Norah Ndagumara said she does not trust the free body scans.
“The device can turn out to be nothing but a cheap embedded system that they market with names such as quantum magnetic . . . , which has no relation to actual quantum physics.
“Diagnosis usually comes out positive, saying you have a kidney problem, liver problem, heart problem or a sexual problem so that they can sell another ‘snake oil’, their expensive so-called cures, which have no medical benefits at all,” she said.
Clampdown
Regulatory bodies are concerned about the proliferation and operations of herbal remedy companies.
In a recent joint statement, the Health Professions Authority (HPA) Zimbabwe and the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) said: “The Health Professions Act (Chapter 27:19), Section 126, stipulates that anyone who is not registered on the designated register who: for gain practises a profession or calling, pretends by any means whatsoever to be on the register or uses any name, title, description or symbol indicating or calculated to lead persons to infer that he is a member of a profession or calling of which a designated register is kept, shall be guilty of an offence liable to a fine or imprisonment, or both. Therefore, diagnosis and prescribing should only be conducted by qualified and licensed personnel.”
HPA and MCAZ said they will soon descend on illegal medical service providers. They will do so in conjunction with the police.
“It is an offence for an unlicensed individual to diagnose, treat and sell medicines to the public. In conjunction with the Zimbabwe Republic Police, the two authorities will be undertaking investigations and confiscating all such offensive equipment, as well as prosecuting the persons operating the said machines illegally. At the same time, the medicines will be confiscated (both registered and unregistered) from unlicensed persons and unlicensed premises.”
The Natural Therapists Council of Zimbabwe (NTCZ), a new entity established in accordance with the Health Professions Act Chapter 27:19, governs and supports natural therapist practitioners and use of natural medicine in Zimbabwe.
NTCZ member Dr George Danda said the methods being used by herbal companies could be phony.
“At one time, I had to go there. They just test you; they say give us your email and send results without any interpretation. And it has become an opportunity for some people to go and buy those machines and start using them and prescribe traditional medicines to people anyhow.”
A proper full body scan, he also said, should take nearly two hours, unlike the few minutes it takes for the free body scans.
Above board
However, one of the companies offering the services says its operations are above board.
Responding to questions from The Sunday Mail Society, chief herbalist and managing director of Greenlife Herbal Care Dr Tichaona Musekiwa warned the media against interfering with their operations.
“It’s not within your purview to inspect our licences; that responsibility lies with the regulatory bodies that registered us. We are not authorised to discuss licensing matters without their approval,” he said.
Regarding the price discrepancy of identical herbal medications, Dr Musekiwa explained that agents working on a commission are allowed to set their prices.
He, however, emphasised that prices should not exceed US$26.
“Our commissioned agents are responsible for determining prices, not us,” he said.
Public health experts believe that consuming herbal remedies unnecessarily can pose significant health risks.
Dr Sydney Chironge said some herbs can be toxic if taken in high doses or over long periods, leading to serious health issues.
“Herbs can interact with prescription medications, potentially altering their effects. This can lead to reduced efficacy or increased side effects. Individuals may develop allergies to certain herbs, experiencing symptoms ranging from mild (like rashes) to severe (like anaphylaxis),” he said.
Herbal products, he added, are often poorly regulated, leading to variability in quality, potency and purity.
“Contaminants or adulterants may be present. Certain herbs have specific dosages that, if exceeded, can lead to adverse effects or poisoning. Overuse of certain herbs might cause imbalances in bodily functions, affecting hormone levels or liver and kidney function,” Dr Chironge said.
“Taking herbs without being sick might lead individuals to neglect proper medical care, believing that herbs alone can prevent or cure health issues.”
The invention of a growing worldwide scam
IN the late 1980s, an out-of-work math instructor in Colorado built an electronic device he claimed could diagnose and destroy diseases — everything from allergies to cancer — by firing radio frequencies into the body.
But the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates medical devices, ordered William Nelson to quit selling his machine and making false claims.
Nelson refused, and he was indicted on felony fraud charges. He fled the country, never to return.
That should have been the unremarkable end of another peddler of medical miracles.
Today, Nelson(56) orchestrates one of America’s boldest healthcare frauds from a century-old building in Budapest, Hungary.
Protected by barred gates, surveillance cameras and guards, he rakes in tens of millions of dollars selling a machine used to exploit the vulnerable and desperately ill.
This device is called the EPFX.
In the US alone, Nelson has sold more than 10 000 of them. More have been sold in the Northwest than in any other region, company officials said.
Nelson built his business by recruiting a sales force of physicians, chiropractors, nurses and thousands of unlicensed providers, from homemakers to retirees, drawn by the promise of easy money.
Nelson is just one profiteer, with one device. An investigation by The Seattle Times has uncovered a global network of manufacturers who sell unproven devices, and practitioners who prey on unsuspecting patients.
Capitalising on weak government oversight, they have used these devices — some illegal, others potentially dangerous — to drain patients’ bank accounts, misdiagnose diseases and divert critically ill people from life-saving care.
These victims are casualties in the growing field called “energy medicine” — alternative therapies based on the belief that the body has energy fields that can be manipulated to improve health.
Energy devices range from handheld machines the size of television remotes to behemoth machines that weigh hundreds of pounds, with costs ranging from US$1 200 to US$55 000.
Many manufacturers and operators do follow FDA rules and disclose that treatments are unproven.
But The Seattle Times’ investigation, based on government records and more than 200 interviews, found thousands who skirt the law.
Its findings
FDA officials do not know how many energy-medicine devices exist, where they are used and even whether they are safe. Ten years ago, Congress reduced medical-device oversight. Ever since, most energy-device manufacturers who register with the FDA submit little more than basic contact information
Federal and state regulators failed to warn the public about a dangerous energy device, the PAP-IMI, which is linked to patient injuries and death. Nor did they confiscate all of the devices, which pulse the body with strong electromagnetic waves. They had been smuggled into the country as seed germinators. The PAP-IMI remains in use today in at least five states, including Washington
Many energy-medicine operators dupe the public by posing as highly trained healthcare professionals through the use of deceptive credentials and unaccredited degrees. Some of the largest and seemingly independent credentialing organisations are in fact controlled by two men who run competing mail-order operations.
FDA spokeswoman Karen Riley said the agency is looking into the EPFX, based on The Seattle Times’ findings
Medical charlatans have used energy devices in this country for more than a century.
In the past decade, the machines exploded into the mainstream, fuelled by the internet, which quickly and cheaply reached prospective buyers and patients.
Today, dozens of energy-device manufacturers present flashy web sites with video testimonials and fake science.
“The message itself has stayed the same for centuries: ‘This is the cure that I discovered and it’s backed with testimonials from lots of people snatched from the grave by using it,’” said James Whorton, professor of medical history at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine.
The National Institutes of Health says research in the area of energy medicine may hold promise, but so far none of the devices, or their treatments, has been scientifically validated.
“Undoubtedly, there’s a lot of quackery,” Whorton said. “They will tell you what you want to hear. The average person isn’t educated or trained to be able to evaluate these therapies critically.” — Wires
