LOCAL hospitals are not allowed to do brain surgery on drug addicts as a means of curing them of their bad habit, according to sources in the Ministry of Health, the Shanghai Morning Post reported. Previously some Chinese clinics had launched experimental projects using such methods.

The paper released by the health ministry said such brain surgery is still in the experimental stage, and clinical research on its safety and effectiveness has not been concluded. So far no conclusions can be made about the exact point in the brain the surgery should target, nor the most successful techniques to use. Until now this surgery has not been widely popularized by clinics as a means of curing drug addicts.

Prior to the new policy, two Shanghai hospitals, Renji and Huashan, had begun to offer such services, and a total of 29 patients had undergone the operation.

Sources with the two hospitals said they had not received any such paper from the health ministry. However, they insisted that if they did receive such instructions they would of course stop providing the operations as soon as possible.

Even if such operations stop being offered, the clinical research into curing addicts of their drug habits through brain surgery will continue. As a scientific project, such research will just receive stricter government supervision.

Wang Chen, a doctor of Huashan Hospital's Neuro-surgery Department, said his hospital had conducted four such operations over the past two months. Renji Hospital has provided the same surgery to 25 patients.

Doctors take such operations very seriously. Patients selected for the operation must meet a list of requirements, including having been a drug addict for more than four years, having failed to recover using other medical treatments, and being willing to voluntarily accept the operation.

Although the health ministry has put a temporary stop to such operations, it has also said that this surgery could possibly become one way to help drug addicts in the future. (Star News)