Traditional Medicine in Asia

Traditional Medicine in Asia
The combination of Koryo and modern
medicine is one of the mainstays of the
health policy, whereby the State helps in
developing KM.
It is also a manifestation of the state’s
concern for providing the inhabitants with
health care of high quality. 1
Combination of Koryo and
modern medicine in the
university’s regular education
system
Medical education in KM faculties is of a
seven-year duration where KM takes up 70
per cent of the time allotted and modern
medicine systems the remaining 30 per
cent. This enables the graduates to attain
a certain level of knowledge of modern
medicine required for modern methods of
diagnosis and treatment.
In the KM faculty, the lectures delivered
on the theoretical aspects of KM are just
as detailed as the expositions in the medical
classics.
The students are taught the clinical
aspects of KM, including internal medicine,
surgery, paediatrics and gynaecology, as
well as the auxiliary ones, such as the
Materia Medica, herbal prescriptions and
acupuncture. As for modern medicine, KM
faculties teach basic aspects like anatomy,
physiology and pathology, as well as clinical
ones like internal medicine, surgery,
paediatrics and gynaecology.
Unlike the KM faculty, the seven-year
course of the medical faculty gives a
weightage of 70 per cent to modern
medicine and 30 per cent to KM. This
system aims to enable doctors to combine
their treatment methods with KM methods.
Though KM theories are taught with
extreme brevity, more detailed lessons are
imparted on the methods of KM treatment,
including acupuncture and herbal
medication. 1,4
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Combination of Koryo and
modern medicine in the reeducation
system
A six-month re-education course is
conducted in the re-education colleges of
the capital city and each province. Those
attending are the KM doctors, as well as
other doctors who graduate from the KM
or medical faculty and have been working
for more than five years.
These re-education courses are free of
charge, and the doctors continue to receive
their usual monthly salary throughout the
six months. This course enables them to
consolidate their knowledge, learn about
new developments, as well as advanced
methods of KM treatment. The course
covers the latest therapeutic techniques
developed both at home and abroad.
Greater importance is attached to modern
medicine for KM doctors and to KM for
other doctors. 1,4
Combination of Koryo and
modern medicine at each level of
medical care
At all levels in the hospitals, treatment by
modern medicine and KM is combined in
a ratio of 7:3. The larger the hospital, the
higher the share of the former; the smaller
the hospital, the higher the share of the
latter. In specialized KM hospitals and each
of the KM departments in other hospitals,
70 per cent of the treatment is according
to KM methods and 30 per cent according
to modern medicine. Generally, the utility
rate of chemical drugs is higher in the
larger hospitals, where conditions favour
their use, rather than in the smaller
hospitals, especially in clinics in the rural
areas.
For purposes of diagnosis, KM doctors
adopt modern methods. No KM doctor
uses the conventional method of diagnosing
diseases (i.e., by simply feeling the pulse).