She counted 61 licensed acupuncture clinics in Primorye and another 20 clinics specializing in a new technique called computer diagnostics. Sergei Sabotovich, a doctor of computer diagnostics located in the Oriental medicine center, said the clinic uses a German-developed technology called a Voll machine to read patients electromagnetic fields and transfer a suitable electromagnetic pattern to sugar pellets, which the patient can then swallow like pills to correct a plethora of health problems. The center has also developed a technique called Computer-Aided Dermatrography in which a computerized pen maps out a patient s ear and detects responses from 183 microzones that can serve as early warnings of potential health problems. And she is loathe to be lumped together with clinics practicing black magic and other occult-style techniques. Luidmila Gurina, deputy chief physician at the Krai Oncological Center, complained that many patients seek treatment at unlicensed, folk-medicine centers before seeking help from mainstream clinics.
Many people go to clairvoyants now.
This distracts them from modern methods of treatment and people lose from two to four months of precious time, said Gurina. By the time patients reach her office, it is often too late to treat them, she said. Folk medicine often flourishes as people seek psychological relief in times of hardship and change, said Ponomareva. Enyom director Vladimir Starostin insisted that his clinic always refers sick patients to traditional doctors before returning for treatment at the center. Most visited the clinic for piece of mind, including one young man complaining of problems in his work, family and sex life, who lay on a bed as Alla Yeliseyeva waved a ladle of hot wax above his back.