BajaNews - 2-21-2006 at 03:52 AM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060218-9...
By Anna Cearley
February 18, 2006
TIJUANA ? Baja California health authorities closed three more Tijuana alternative health clinics as part of an ongoing investigation into centers
that treat U.S. citizens suffering from life-threatening illnesses.
A total of 12 patients, most of them U.S. citizens, were being removed from the clinics, Mexican authorities said yesterday.
Two of the eight non-Mexican patients treated at the Centro Hospitalario Internacional Pacifico had gone there after being forced to leave the Santa
Monica Clinic last month, according to health authorities.
The Santa Monica Clinic, which provided alternative cancer treatments, was shut down after Coretta Scott King died there. Doctors at the clinic said
she hadn't been there long enough to begin treatments, but her death put the spotlight on alternative clinics.
This week, Centro Hospitalario Internacional Pacifico was found to be providing castor oil enemas, ozone therapy and other unauthorized treatments for
seriously ill patients, health authorities said.
The hospital, which has been open since 1991, primarily treats Mexican residents, such as local school children whose parents pay a minimal insurance
fee, Medical Director Gilberto L?pez said. He said usually just one or two U.S. citizens a month come to his clinic for help in battling illnesses.
?It's not a therapy, it's just a method,? L?pez said. ?I don't tell them I can cure the cancer with this. What I say is that this can help flush out
toxins.?
Efforts to reach spokesmen for the two other facilities were unsuccessful.
Health authorities, however, said they found four people from out of the country receiving treatment at the Centro Betaniawest, which was found to
have homeopathic medicines without documentation and expired medicines.
A third clinic, the Centro Crisol, offered ?holistic medicine and massages? and was run by a Colombian without proper certification, according to a
statement provided by health authorities. The health department's bulletin didn't note the presence of foreigners.
Lorena Blanco, spokeswoman for the U.S. Consulate, said the consulate was aware of five U.S. citizens found this week at one center, the Centro
Hospitalario.