Traditional Medicine in Asia

Traditional Medicine in Asia
Chiropractic treatment is commonly used for curing infantile
malnutrition (Courtesy Prof. Chen Gui-ting)
and conservative treatment for ectopic
pregnancy with herbal medication to
remove stagnant blood. In addition, a
herbal homeostatic formula that had
been developed, as well as couching in
cataract operation were seen to achieve
very good results. 12 Most of these clinical
studies were carried out on large
samples, at first jointly by traditional and
modern medical practitioners and, later,
by traditional and integrated medical
practitioners. Therefore, modern medical
circles were convinced by the results.
There are many more diseases in which
traditional treatment has been proved to
be effective. In daily clinical practice,
traditional medicine has been shown to
be effective in the treatment of many
common diseases, as assessed by
modern criteria of diagnosis and efficacy
evaluation.
Reform of educational system
of traditional medicine
Historical review of TCM
education
Training of TCM professionals is of utmost
importance in the development of this
system of medicine. In ancient China, most
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practitioners learned through apprenticeship.
In most cases, knowledge was handed
down from one generation to the next
within the family. Although TCM could
boast of the earliest teaching institutions,
these institutions imparted training mainly
to the court physicians of the imperial
family and to high-ranking physicians in
the service of feudal nobles and officials.
As early as the fifth century, the Tang
Dynasty set up a central institution called
the “Imperial Medical Bureau”, which
served both as a medical school and as a
clinic. It had four departments: medicine,
acupuncture, massage (including
traumatology) and incantation. The
department of medicine consisted of the
specialities of internal medicine, paediatrics,
sores and ulcers, diseases of the ears,
eyes, mouth and teeth, and cupping. The
duration of training varied according to the
speciality. For example, the training period
for general medicine was seven years,
paediatrics five years and cupping three
years. Other than the Imperial Medical
Bureau some prefectures had their own
medical educational institutions.
The succeeding dynasties developed
medical education further. For example,
during the reign of the Song Dynasty (960–
1279), the Imperial Medical Bureau
became a purely educational institution,
consisting of nine departments: internal
medicine, stroke, paediatrics, sores and
ulcers (including bone fractures), obstetrics,
eye diseases, diseases of the mouth, teeth
and throat, acupuncture, and incised
wounds. A professor was appointed for
each department and the teachers were
given the title of “doctor of medicine”. The
institution admitted 300 students annually
through an entrance examination. Besides
the Imperial Medical Bureau, which was
the premier institution, medical schools
were set up by the local governments. 13