Should slimming drugs be more strictly controlled?
I am astonished by the terrible side effects of the diet drugs prescribed by three different doctors ('Doctors push risky diet drugs', May 30).
I can't imagine how the doctors can give those pills to a woman whose body mass index is only 20, which is an optimal level.
This serious phenomenon provokes alarm about the lack of controls over slimming drugs. Personally I totally agree with the proposal. Some doctors merely want to do a lucrative business. They tell the patients, especially those who are women, that they are obese (slightly or exceedingly), then prescribe those bitter pills to them arbitrarily. By restricting the prescriptions of these drugs, further disputes and legal proceedings can be avoided.
I believe that besides banning the sales of these medicines, the doctors ought to be considerate by having an overall assessment of the patients' physiques before prescribing the perilous pills. After all, the territory is flooded with slimming adverts and propaganda which spread the wrong message to the public, distorting the concept of 'beauty'. This is the root of the problem and perhaps the government should do something about that as well.
Curtis Ho, Tsuen Wan