China's Health Minister Chen Zhu has called for respect to traditional
Chinese medicine (TCM), the scientific value of which is doubted by
some people.
"A prudent scientist should not judge TCM in haste if he did not
understand its meaning, advantage and core theories," Chen, a
Paris-trained hematology scientist, said in Beijing on Monday at a
health forum.
Chen's made the remarks amid continuing debate about the value
and efficacy of medicine practices of TCM which go back millennia
and are rooted deeply in Chinese culture.
Long before the start of modern medical science, the Chinese had
developed complex theories about the treatment of illnesses. The
first Chinese medical classic - The Yellow Emperor's Canon of
Medicine - dates back to between 403 BC and 221 BC.
Remedies made from natural ingredients, such as wild plants and
animal parts, and simple tools such as acupuncture needles were
used by TCM doctors to treat patients.
But in the mid 19th century, TCM declined due to the growing
popularity of western medicine. TCM was even officially banned for
a time under the rule of the Kuomintang Party.
After the founding of the people's republic, TCM was
rehabilitated and developed alongside western medicine. About 3,000
hospitals in China provide TCM treatments to nearly 234 million
patients each year.
Despite its popularity, TCM is not widely used in health care
systems abroad and faces criticism at home. Among the accusations,
critics say TCM's theories lack scientific evidence and its
remedies are ineffective and, in some cases, unsafe.
A nationwide debate erupted over the survival of TCM last year
after a proposal floated on the internet by a leading academic that
it should no longer be practiced in hospitals.
The proposal, from Zhang Gongyao, a professor with Central South
University, attracted strong opposition from the Ministry of
Health. A spokesman said: "TCM is an inseparable and important
component of China's health sector." Many outraged opponents said
Zhang's ideas "ignored history and might kill off Chinese
culture".
Minister Chen acknowledged that TCM did need to improve itself
and move with the times as it had been resting on experience and
philosophical arguments for a long time.
But he said cultural differences meant that TCM was very
different from western medicine. "Experience and instinct served as
key cognition methods in oriental culture, but in the west, people
relied more on experiment and reasoning."
Striking a comparison between classic western still-life oil
painting and traditional Chinese landscape painting, Chen explained
that western medicine focused more on clear details of the
components, while TCM tended to present a vague picture of the
whole.
Despite the differences, the minister said that the two medical
theories also shared many similarities in basic concepts.
"TCM believes in the harmony of man with nature, which is pretty
similar to western theories of the relations between health and
environment; TCM emphasizes that diagnosis and treatment should be
based on an overall analysis of the illness and the patient's
condition, while in western medicine, pharmacogenetics (the study
of how genes affect the way people respond to medicines) is used to
find the most effective remedies for patients..."
Chen said one noticeable phenomenon is that the high level of
specialization within western medicine has "fragmentized" the whole
medical system and the treatment procedure.
"Almost all the complicated diseases are affected by multiple
factors... Under the fragmented diagnosis and treatment system,
we've lost many chances for simple remedy and early
intervention."
The minister urged scientists to break the block between TCM and
western medicine so as to develop a new medical science of the 21st
century, which could incorporate the advantages of the two
medicines.
"If the core concepts of TCM, such as the holistic view,
preventative approach and treatment based on patients' conditions,
could be further studied and developed, TCM is likely to have a
far-reaching impact on the modern medical system, medical policy,
pharmaceutical industry and even the whole economic sector," Chen
said.
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(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2007)