Rating system to govern cosmetic surgery
The city’s health authority is to introduce a rating system for cosmetic surgery, medical staff and facilities with procedures allowed only in line with ratings.
Each procedure will be scored according to its complication and risk. The authority will set a maximum score a patient can receive in one surgery.
“Currently, there is no such regulation in the nation. Some facilities just encourage patients to receive several major and highly risky procures within one surgery,” said Dr Sun Baoshan from the Shanghai Cosmetic Surgery Quality Control Center. “There are medical accidents due to such improper practice. Shanghai is the first one to introduce such a scoring system to control risk and protect patients’ safety.”
According to the Shanghai Health Supervision Agency, there are over 300 medical facilities approved for cosmetic surgery. Some facilities conduct procedures without permission, hire unqualified staff, use illegal products or encourage patients to have more procedures to increase their profits.
“It is very risky, as there have been cases in Shanghai and other cities where patients who are in a critical condition or even die due to such illegal practices,” Sun said. “With the development of cosmetic surgery and equipment, there are many new skills and procedures that the current regulation can’t properly supervise. So we are working on the rating and scoring system to improve supervision and avoid medical accidents. In the future, doctors and facilities ranking in the first grade can only do first-grade surgery, while those with a higher rating can do more complicated and risky surgeries at a higher grade.”
The agency has offered training to officials from all local cosmetic facilities and required them to sign a commitment for self-discipline for legal operation on Tuesday.
“We will regulate the practice of all medical staff and cooperate with the authority to ensure medical quality and patients’ safety,” said Lin Jintai of the Shanghai Time Plastic Surgery Hospital.
