Re:from Beijing

[Guest guest]

Sin Hua, China News Agency, April 1, 2001

 

At the conclusion of a 3-day meeting held in the Great Hall of the

People in

Beijing, March 28-30, an elite panel of 12 Traditional

(TCM) practitioners declared, " There is sufficient evidence of Western

Medicine's effectiveness to expand its use into TCM and to encourage

further

studies of its physiology and clinical value " . " In particular " , the

panel's

report stated, " Western Medicine shows promise as adjunctive treatment

to

TCM. As a stand-alone medicine, however, its efficacy is mainly in the

areas

of acute and catastrophic care that comprise a relatively minor

percentage

of total patient complaints. "

The consensus report was particularly critical of biomedical research

design, since the panel had based their assessments solely on data from

randomised controlled trials. Key points of the critique were:

Biomedical trials are designed to determine the mean response to

treatment.

This outcome is of limited value to TCM practitioners who are trained to

 

devise individualised treatment protocols. Biomedical trials test one

drug

at a time. This approach is bound to reveal unwanted side effects. In

contrast, TCM seeks combinations of herbs to balance out adverse effects

of

individual herbs.

Diseases chosen for study in biomedical research are, too often,

imprecise

collections of symptoms, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome or Chronic

Fatigue

Syndrome. These categorisations lump together different conditions that

are

readily distinguishable by TCM diagnosis.

" It is also our impression " , the report continued, " that Western

Medicine is

based in a belief system that is powerfully reinforced by the large sums

of

money patients and insurance companies are willing to pay for

treatment. "

" We strongly recommend " , the panel concluded, " that patients should be

treated with Western Medicine only on a referral basis from a

practitioner

of TCM " .

The most significant recommendation of this group is that only qualified

TCM

practitioners should be allowed to practice conventional medicine. There

 

should, in effect, be no 'lay' doctors. In light of this, T.C.M.

practitioners are advised to acquire at least 200 hours training in

order to

competently practice conventional medicine.