SARS' In harmony but different'

[Guest guest]

May 13,2003

 

Dear Listmembers,

 

This is an article written by Prof. Li zhi Zhong published in today's issue of the Takung Pao. I translated the article due to its relevance to current discsssions we are having on the issue of scientism, Chinese medicine/Western medicine integration jie he or ' coordination ' pei he as proposed by Prof. Li.

 

Regards,

 

Rey Tiquia

Phd Candidate

Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science'

University of Melbourne

Victoria

Australia

 

 

 

The Focus of -Western Medicine Coordination Must be Placed in the Treatment of SARS

 

Li Zhi Zhong

Chinese Medical School of the Hongkong Baptist University

 

Takung Pao May 13,2003- SARS has been wreaking havoc in Hongkong for two

months now. After repeated appeals from the broader people and various

social strata in Hongkong, the HK Medical Administrative Authority has

invited two respiratory experts from the Guangdong Provincial TCM Hospital

to come to Hongkong and help in the -Western Medicine

coordination pei he é…åˆin the treatment of SARS patients. However there are

still newspaper reports of the guarantee of the ‘feasibility’ ke xing xing

å¯è¡Œæ€§ that the two Mainland China experts will come to Hongkong.

 

At present, the number of new SARS cases is decreasing while the number

of fatalities is still increasing. Hence, the cardinal question facing the

Hongkong society at the moment is how to heighten the efficacy of clinical

therapies and exerting all efforts to bring down the rate of fatalities from

SARS. If the relevant government departments would just study the

‘feasibility’ of carrying out ‘integrated CM and WM zhong xi yi jie he 中西

醫çµåˆ, is this not similar to reversing the relationship of the ‘root to

the stem’ of the trees ben mo dao zhi 本末倒置, and thus ‘seeking from afar

which lies close at hand’ she jing qiu yuan æ¨è¿‘æ±‚é  ?

 

Learn from the Guangzhou Medical and health Personell’s Experience of Zero Infection Rate

 

One, in the middle of April this year, the Hongkong Baptist University

invited the the Director of the Respiratory Department of the Guangdong

Provincial TCM Hospital , Dr. Lin Lin to report on their experience of

using both Chinese medicine and Western medicine treatments zhong xi yi zhi

liao 中西醫治療. Director Lin’s speech ( composed and written in April this

year by the Guangdong Provincial TCM Hospital) entitled “Integrated Chinese

and Western Medicine Treatment of SARS “ zhong xi yi jie zhi liao fei dian

xing feiyan 中西醫çµåˆæ²»ç™‚éžå…¸åž‹è‚ºç‚Ž is a summing-up of their experience of

treating SARS from January 7th through to April 5th this year. It (their

experience) is a crystallization from blood and sweat .At the same time,

their experience went through the joint and collective discussions with and

among the mainland Chinese famous veteran TCM experts like Deng Tie Tao, Ren

Ji Xue, Jiao Shu De, Chao En Xiang, Lu Zhi Zheng, Lu Huang xin, Yan De Xin,

Zhou Zhong Ying, Liu Wei Sheng etc. At the same time,at the No.1 Hospital

Attached to the Guangzhou TCM University, among the 56 SARS patients who

received emergency treatment there there was ‘zero casualty ‘ ling si wang

○死亡 and among the medical and health personell, a ‘zero infection rate’

ling gan ran ○感染. This is a great achievement which has attracted the

attention of the world. With regards to this facts, aside from studying

them conscientiously and catching up, the neighboring Hongkong medical

circles have no other choices. I can not understand. As for the

‘feasibility’ ke xing xing å¯è¡Œæ€§ of the ‘coordination of CM and WM

treatments zhong xi yi pei he zhi liao 中西醫é…åˆæ²»ç™‚,what is ‘suspicious’

about it; and why the necessity to ‘repeat’ a study. Especially with

regards TCM's ‘tailoring of treatment in accordance with the diagnosed clinical

pattern ‘bian zheng lun zhi 辯證論治 which the Western medical circles in

Hongkong know very little about, using ‘transdisciplinary research to look

at Guangdong Provinice's TCM clinical results , can this lead to a higher

result ?

 

Secondly, looking at it from the foundational theory of medical

science in general, Chinese medicine and Western medicine are two concepts

liang ge gai nian 兩個概念. These are two completely different fields of

medical studies . Using Western medical concepts and methodology to

explicate and revise gaizao 改造 TCM is a typical case of a ‘modern

scientistic ‘ error jin dai kexuezhuyi de cuo wu 近代科學主義的錯誤. During

the early 20th century, in Mainland China, there were people in the Western

medical circles who held on to the attitude of ‘ getting rid of the medical

while preserving the yao’ fei yi cun yao 廢醫存葯. They propose the

‘scientisation ‘ of TCM zhongyi kexuehua 中醫科學化. What they uphold as

their scientific academic standards in reality is Western medicine

with modern science as its foundation. That is why in almost a century

hence, not only was there very little achievements; on the other hand, the

biggest harm was that this has nurtured this unhealthy habit: of ’ science’s

misunderstanding of science’ , and ‘medicine’s devastation of medicine’ .

These in turn has seriously undermined the autonomous development of the discipline of traditional Chinese medicine.Up until the 80’s of t he 20th century, China has set forth

in it’s constitution: “ Develop modern medicine and yao and China’s

traditional medicine and yaoâ€. During the 90’s , the legal foundation. for

“simultaneously putting the stress upon both CM and WM†as the general

policy for China’s national health work , as well as the joint prosperity

and autonomous development for both the two systems of medicines -CM and WM

was established.

 

Thirdly, the reknowned anthropologist ren lei xue jia人類學家 Fei Xiao

Tong from a broader perspective, refers to ‘modern scientism ‘ as

‘euro-americacentrism’ ou mei wen hua zhong xin lun æ­ç¾Žæ–‡åŒ–中心論. On

December 17-21st of last year, ethnic Chinese hua ren è¯äºº from all over the

world came to Hongkong to attend the opening of the grand academic

conference ‘ 21stCentury Ethnic Chinese Forum’ . President Wu Qing Hui ,

who is the chairperson of the Preparatory Committee and the Principal of the

Hongkong Baptist University gave an opening speech entitled “Cultural

Awareness and Social Progress.’. More than 200 delegates from all over the

world came to attend the conference and widely discussed with each other and

carried forward the fine cultural traditions of the Chinese nation. They

also reaffirmed Fei Xiao Tong ‘s cultural perspective of humanity’s

multicultural co-existence and common prosperity of the new era by pointing

out that “each has its own beauty, the beauty of the beautiful person, the

commonality of the most beautiful; they are in harmony but different.†ge

mei qi mei, mei ren zhi mei, mei mei yu gong, he er bu tong. å„美其美，美人

之美，美美與共，和而ä¸åŒ. Cultural science develops in multiple ways. This

is the main trend in the contemporary world. Hence, from this point of view,

the development of Chinese medicine and Western medicine in Hongkong should

not be out line tuo jie 脫節 with the main trend of this global cultural

science .It should be established on the basis of this new cultural

perspective of this era which is being “ in harmony but different†. In the

fight against SARS, the people and society has called for bringing in TCM

treatment. This is exactly a reflection of the relationship between Chinese

medicine and Western medicine in this new cultural perspective of this new

era.

 

Strive For the Superiority of integrated CM-WM Treatment

 

Fourth, as the gradual easing of the spread of SARS, the Hongkong

government has put forth proposals for restoring socioeconomic services. At

present, the forcus of the work on SARS must be on not losing the

opportunity and nor losing any life in the treatment of SARS.. If the

medical community can make use of the present resources , organize and

coordinate the superiority of Chinese medicine and Western medicine, while

at the same time making a concerted effort tong li he zuo 通力åˆä½œ, then it

would be possible to completely conclude this ‘war’ against SARS basically

within two weeks.

 

1. In casualty wards shen qie zhi liao bu 深切治療部 medical

treatment used should be mainly Western medicine but reference be made to

the experience of Guangzhou and Shen Zhen. As much as possible reduce the

mortality rate from the disease.

 

2. In ordinary hospital wards use ‘coordinated Chinese

medicine-Western medicine treatments ‘ zhong xi pei he zhi liao 中西é…åˆæ²»ç™‚

.. Shorten the course of progression of the disease. Strive for a target of

no patient getting back into the casualty department.

 

3. Organize and coordinate the TCM experts from the three universities,

(in Hongkong) and in coordination with Western medicine have them

participate in the treatment of suspected SARS patients as well as SARS

casualty patients. Strive to have no more increase in the number of SARS

patients.

 

4. Further promote and popularize common TCM knowledge on ‘nurturing

life’ yang sheng 養生 and disease prevention .Efforts should be directed

in putting a stop to the increase in suspected SARS cases.

 

This sudden onslaught from SARS has left behind many mysteries as well

as many retrospections fan si åæ€to humanity and medicine. However, the

focus of the present task must be to organize and coordinate in the

treatment and saving of the lives of SARS patients.From here on, many

research works will gradually unfold.