Traditional systems of Medicine

Read the book ' Away with all Pests ' by Dr. Joshua Horn.

Dr. Horn was an English medical doctor who went to China in 1954 and worked there till 1969.

 He has mentioned in his book that in China doctors of the modern and traditional medical schools were taught to co-operate with each other, and learn from each other.

 He has mentioned cases where modern ( allopathic ) treatment failed, but the patient was cured by the traditional Chinese medical treatment. e.g.acupuncture.

From the point of view of modern science,the theories of traditional Chinese medicine may appear irrational and unscientific. Nevertheless they are often effective in curing ailments.

 Many doctors practising the traditional Chinese medical systems have been enrolled on the staffs of modern hospitals in China, working side by side with their modern-type colleagues and co-operating with them. Traditional doctors have access to modern diagnostic methods.such as X rays and laboratory investigations. Hospitals exclusively for the practice of Chinese medicine have been built incorporating features new to traditional medicine, such as case history filing departments.

A large number of young modern type doctors  have attended short courses in traditional Chinese medicine,and some senior physicians have done intensive study for one or two years. Although traditional doctors were urged to learn something of modern medicine, the main emphasis has been on modern doctors learning traditional medicine.

  The policy of the government  towards traditional Chinese medicine expressed itself in two ways. One was to analyse and test the efficacy of traditional remedies, and try to find out  how traditional methods, such as acupuncture, work. This type of research work was largely done in research  institutes by teams of traditional and modern doctors, pharmacologists, biochemists, physiologists and laboratory workers.

 The second was to conduct clinical research into methods of blending traditional and modern medicine with the object of developing a new system superior to either alone. This is mostly done in general hospitals by modern type doctors working in co-operation with traditional practitioners. It is a kind of research which, because it concerns itself more with practice than with theory, is able to achieve relatively quick results, which in turn can  open up fruitful avenues  for basic theoretical research.

  In my opinion in India too we can utilize some of these ideas in providing healthcare to our masses. We had our traditional systems of medicine like Ayurved and Unani. and research should be done about the efficacy of their methods of treatment and drugs. We should neither reject them outright nor accept them outright. Whatever is found beneficial and useful, after research, should be taught in our M.B.B.S. courses, so that a doctor learns both Western medicine as also Indian medicine. Many ailments like spondilitis, arthritis, asthma, etc have no cure in allopathy. It may be that there is a cure in our traditional medical systems.

 Dr. Horn also mentions that thousands of para medics are also trained in China.  In U.S.A. also there is a system of having nurse practitioners or physician attendants. These are not full fledged doctors, but they supplement the medical personnel, of whom there is often a shortage