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Current situation of the Traditional Chinese
Medicine in China
Traditional Chinese Medicine has been used
in China for
thousands of years in history. It helped Chinese escapes many
times of major epidemiologic diseases. However, the brightness
of modern science strongly affected the development and
application of the Traditional Chinese Medicine in
China
from early 1900.
The first fight against the Traditional
Chinese Medicine is at the Guo Ming Party times. It has been
proposed by the chief medical officer of the government, Mr. Yu
Yung Di. He believes that the fall behind of Chinese society,
comparing with that in the west world, is the Chinese
Philosophy. It is reflected also in the healthcare system. He
believed that the Japanese learned the western medicine and had
much advanced medical system than in China. The Guo
Ming Party government planed to cancel the Traditional Chinese
Medicine for ever. However, the policy was not going on to
exercise due to very strong defense of the doctors and the
ordinary Chinese at that time.
After establishment of the New China by the
Communist Party in 1949, the new government supports the
development of the Traditional Chinese Medicine in
China
as one of the major healthcare components. Many colleges and
University in the Traditional Chinese Medicine have been
established, almost one in each province (in more than 20
provinces).
However, in the “Cultural Revolution”
(between 1966 and 1976), the government supported the
combination of the Traditional Chinese Medicine and the western
medicine. The TCM colleges are combined into the western
medicine college. They followed the education system in western
medicine. Students learn mostly from classroom, from textbook,
learn simplified version of the TCM knowledge. They no longer
learn from clinic experts from clinic work. Their clinic ability
is therefore lower than those typically learn from expert from
clinic works.
In the “Cultural revolution”, the
government also supported the simplified TCM system in the rural
area. It indeed spread the use of TCM in the broad rural area,
but the doctors are satisfied to use simple ways as treatment by
one bunch of herbs, or simply by needle. To learn the deep TCM
skill was omitted largely.
Later on, with the increased number of
hospital in the western medicine in China, and due to the fact
that the cost to the western medical healthcare is reimbursed by
the government, very sick or emergency patients were sent to the
hospital rather than stay in the home treated by the TCM doctor.
This misleads the believing that the Traditional Chinese
Medicine cannot be used with the emergency conditions.
Much more financial supports have been
given to the western medical system, to establish the
universities and the hospitals. Only very little was given to
the TCM college and hospitals. The TCM clinic efficiency was not
increased, though some amount of TCM students graduated.
People commonly do not realize that the
reduced clinic ability of TCM is due to the unfair environment
to the TCM, but to the fall back of the TCM theory. They believe
that TCM should be modernized, as same as the western medicine,
that the theory can be verified in the experiments in the
laboratory, that the healing effects of a given herb formula
should be able to reproducible in large population and that it
should be clear which ingredients are functional in the formula.
Under the domination of the western
medicine system and spirit in
China, the main idea for the
development of TCM is that the TCM should also search the
concrete pathological factors that cause diseases, and that the
scientific research results should be evaluated by the same way
as for the western medicine. They wish to change the practice of
the TCM in which each patient, and different stage of the
disease, should be and must be treated according to the change
of the disease showings. They do not know that the TCM pay much
attention to the syndrome of the patient, and give the treatment
according to the syndrome. The same syndrome can be caused by
different virus, bacteria, or even by just the functional
disorder of the body due to the physical or chemical change,
such as weather change, or by drinking cold water, etc. They can
not understand how a formula can be used for the treatment of
more than 200 kinds of clinic conditions/diseases defined by the
western medical system.
Lots of scientific researches have been
done in China, Japan and in other countries, where
the TCM has been used in history. Unfortunately, the researchers
fail to find satisfied answers to these questions. This makes
people believe that the Traditional Chinese Medicine is without
scientific meanings, so the theory is not the truth. In their
mind, the science is equal to the truth. They do not know or do
not want to believe that, whatever we cannot be explained by the
current science dose not necessarily mean it is false. The
science understanding to the nature, to the world, is also a
dynamic course. Scientists reform and correct their theory from
time to time, and no end yet. Science means a research effort.
This effort may yield a result, or not. The result may or may
not means a truth. And, the truth is applicable to a small or a
large nature situation.
The current situation in China is that the TCM doctors have
no chance to participate into the emergency clinic work, nor the
acute epidemiologic prevention and treatment. The most important
example is the treatment of SARS, an acute respiratory disease
in China in 1996. Without knowing the
pathological cause of the disease, the western medicine failed
to prevent and to treatment the patients. The death rate is as
high as 10% to 20%. Strongly forced by this fact, and others,
like some successful cases with the TCM in the treatment of
SARS, the government allowed the participation of the TCM
doctors in the front of the SARS prevention and treatment. They
did excellent job! They saved the Chinese!
In April 2007, the Chinese government
announced that it will establish a TCM dominated healthcare
system in China, to serve billions of Chinese.
It will develop the TCM according to the original rule in
learning and practicing. It will respect the philosophy of
original TCM in their clinic work. This is based on the fact
that TCM has been used in China for thousands of year with its
effectiveness, simplicity and cost effectiveness, the fact that
current western medicine dominated medical system fails to solve
the healthcare crisis of billions of population in China, the
fact that the western medicine systems can do almost nothing to
prevent acute epidemiologic disease before knowing the cause,
and the fact that the healthcare is not so big problem before in
China when the TCM system is dominated, and in some other
countries, such as north Korea, where the Traditional Chinese
Medicine is their major healthcare system.
We will, with great expect, pay attention
to the development of current TCM in
China, a renewed healthcare
system in another side of the earth!
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