Sixty victims were given 11 million yuan (US$1.3 million) in compensation at the Lusong District People's Court in Zhuzhou of Central China's Hunan Province yesterday for the harm done to them by a harmful medicine.

The drug, called Meihua-K, was labeled as a herb medicine and was produced by Banzhou Medicine Production Company in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It was claimed that the drug could help people improve their health.

However, the medical supervision department in Hunan Province found that the medicine was actually produced by a company in Shaanxi Province, which does not have a license to produce medicine.

The department also found that the company had added some medical materials, which had expired.

Around 71 people were sent to hospital with severe side effects.

Sources with the hospital said 69 patients later recovered after urgent treatment, while two others were in a serious condition.

Shen Zhifang was one of the two seriously affected patients.

Shen began to take Meihua-K in August, and began to feel ill after consuming two boxes of the medicine.

She was sent to a local hospital but has lost most of her sense of touch, sight, smell and also her hearing.

Her husband had to resign from his job to accompany her to the hospital and her mother's limited income in vegetable sales had to support the whole family. Doctors admitted that Shen's health is unlikely to recover completely.

Another other patient severely harmed by the medicine was 24-year-old Chen Guilan.Meihua-K paralyzed her brain. Sources at a local hospital have said her intelligence level is now similar to that of a five-year-old.

(China Daily April 3, 2002)