Recently, an ear care shop in Cuiping District, Yibin City, Sichuan Province was fined 110,000 yuan for "carrying out diagnostic and treatment activities without authorization" by the local regulatory authorities. Because the shop owner failed to pay the fine on time...

Recently

an ear care shop in Cuiping District, Yibin City, Sichuan Province

was fined 110,000 yuan for being deemed by the local regulatory authorities as

"carrying out diagnostic and treatment activities without authorization"

The owner was fined further because he failed to pay the fine on time

110,000 yuan

The total amount exceeds 220,000 yuan

This "sky-high fine" triggered everyone

to discuss whether "a small fine is too heavy a fine"

△The store involved (picture provided by the interviewee)

Opened an ear care store

with an income of 2,000 yuan fined 220,000 yuan

In March 2023, Ms. Li opened an ear care store in Cuiping District, Yibin City through franchising, specializing in ear picking and ear physiotherapy. "When I joined, I was told that the main business is physical therapy, dredging of meridians, and ear picking."

The business license provided by Ms. Li shows that the store's business scope includes health consulting services (excluding diagnosis and treatment services), and traditional Chinese medicine health care services (non-medical). In addition, there are sales of Class I and Class II medical devices, etc.

However, less than half a month after opening, Ms. Li was ordered to stop practicing for carrying out diagnosis and treatment activities without authorization. "I drip liquid into the ears to give customers experience; I use the endoscope to remove the ears; the cloud knife is an ear picking tool."

△Business license of the store involved (photo provided by the interviewee)

After that, Yibin City Cui The Ping District Health Bureau issued an "Administrative Punishment Decision" clarifying that Ms. Li's ear care shop was suspected of illegal medical practice.

In this regard, Sun Jing from the Health Bureau of Cuiping District, Yibin City told reporters that on the day of the enforcement, the store was using a "small visible" endoscope instrument to examine a customer. After the inspection, a "topical + oral + ancient prescription + acupoint" formula was formulated. "The treatment plan includes methods such as rubbing the ear canal with a cloud knife. The above-mentioned behavior is a diagnostic and treatment activity, not the general "ear-picking" behavior as understood by the public.

△Interior of the store involved (picture provided by interviewee)

"Basic Medical Hygiene and Health Promotion Law" stipulates that anyone who practices without obtaining a medical institution practice license shall be fined not less than five times but not more than twenty times the illegal income. If the illegal income is less than 10,000 yuan, it shall be calculated as 10,000 yuan.

The illegal income of this store is 2,000 yuan, which is less than 10,000 yuan. According to regulations, it is calculated as 10,000 yuan, which means that the fine range falls between 50,000 yuan and 200,000 yuan. The Cuiping District Health Law Enforcement Brigade finally imposed an administrative penalty on the store, confiscating 2,000 yuan of illegal income and imposing a fine of 110,000 yuan. Ms. Li failed to pay the fine overdue and should be fined in accordance with the law. After a total of 168 days of overdue payment and an additional fine of RMB 110,000, Ms. Li had to pay a total of RMB 222,000 in fines and confiscations.

△ Yibin City Cuiping District Health Bureau applied for an enforcement application (picture provided by the interviewee)

After the incident became fermented

many netizens questioned whether the punishment was excessive:

"I hope there will be follow-up reports"

Last night (March 31 Japan)

Health Cuiping WeChat public account

Release status report

Withdrawal of enforcement application

Start internal review

In response to the case of "Yibin Yunchangtang Health Management Center was punished for practicing without obtaining a medical institution practice license" that netizens paid attention to , Yibin City Cuiping District Health Bureau has withdrawn its application for enforcement to the District People’s Court. At the same time, the bureau has launched an internal review of the case, and the next step will be to properly handle it based on the review.

Source: Health Cuiping WeChat official account, Voice of China WeChat official account