If there weren’t even half of the practitioners, could it still be called a Chinese dicine Hospital?
If it’s not a Chinese dicine Hospital, why is it still called a Chinese dicine Hospital?
Du Heng’s mouth twitched. It’s because the country, the ministry, and the provincial authorities allocate support funds for Traditional Chinese dicine every year, and the money has to go sowhere. Just by having the na, they can receive tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, in support funds annually—why wouldn’t they? And another regulation—that traditional Chinese dicine prescriptions must not be less than 60%—is even more laughable. A Chinese dicine Hospital is supposed to treat patients and save lives, yet they can’t even ensure 60% of their prescriptions are traditional Chinese dicine prescriptions, let alone 100%. How absurd is that? Using traditional Chinese dicine thods for diagnosis but prescribing Western dicine—it’s like hanging a sheep’s head to sell dog at, a truly monuntal joke.
Lan Changhua was getting older, with high industry status and social status, so the conversation naturally flowed to the developnt of the industry.
Listening to his concerns about the entire industry and his plans, Du Heng couldn’t get interested at all.
Because what Lan Changhua was saying were all empty and impractical things; it wouldn’t be wrong to call him a grandstander. If one truly wants to change the plight of traditional Chinese dicine, tackling it from two aspects would solve most of the developntal obstacles. First, change the qualification recognition for traditional Chinese dicine practitioners. Using Western dicine’s qualification assessnt thod—simply swapping out the questions and calling it the traditional Chinese dicine qualification assessnt—isn’t entirely useless, but it’s ninety percent useless. Take the common cold, for example. In Western dicine, while there are distinctions like the common cold, influenza, and viral cold, the treatnt thods are largely the sa, with differences only in the use of a few specific dications. However, in traditional Chinese dicine, classifications for a cold include external conditions due to yang deficiency, wind evil invading the exterior, wind evil with dampness invading the exterior, external conditions due to qi deficiency, external conditions due to qi deficiency with wind evil and dampness, lesser yang syndro, greater yang syndro, greater yang-yangming combined syndro, and greater yang-lesser yang combined syndro, among others. If the type identified through syndro differentiation is different, then the use of Chinese herbal dicine will have subtle variations. And in the process of seeing a patient, the most difficult part isn’t prescribing dicine, but clearly differentiating these syndros. This is why many traditional Chinese dicine practitioners, when treating a minor cold, can end up making the person so sick they’re bedridden. It’s because they fundantally can’t differentiate the syndros clearly. The dicine they prescribe is wrong, so how could they possibly cure anyone? However, they can pass the practitioner certification by morizing books and exam questions. Yet, those truly famous old Chinese doctors among the common folk often have no way of passing these practitioner exams. Second, change the current system for studying Chinese dicine. Five years in university, and you won’t learn shit. To truly apply what one has learned, one must at least complete graduate studies and then find a reliable Master to guide them for three to five years. Therefore, to make students of traditional Chinese dicine competitive, they either need to start learning from elentary school or study straight through from university to doctoral graduation. But does Lan Changhua know these two points? He knows. But will he try to solve them? He won’t. Because he knows he can’t solve them either. However, without addressing these two aspects, talking about anything else is just a joke. Any other support for the traditional Chinese dicine industry ans the top organizations and individuals get to feast until they burst, while mid-to-lower-level practitioners, if not starving to death, are rely hanging on by a thread.
So, when Lan Changhua’s topics started to sound grand and lofty, Du Heng no longer wanted to listen. The more he listened and the more Lan spoke, the more frustrated he felt.
It’s better to just be like now, diligently doing his own work and helping everyone he can within his capabilities.
"Professor Lan, how co I don’t see Dr. Cao? Isn’t he your assistant?"
Du Heng took the opportunity, glanced at Lan Changhua’s new assistant, and hurriedly interrupted Lan Changhua’s reverie about the industry.
But as soon as this topic was brought up, Lan Changhua’s expression changed instantly, becoming very unpleasant.
This startled Du Heng, who quickly asked, "Professor Lan, did I...?"
Lan Changhua waved his hand. "It’s not your fault; Xiao Cao had a little incident."
Cao Binghe had an accident?
"What happened to Dr. Cao?" Du Heng asked urgently.
During his ti in the Capital, if he had to say who he had the best relationship with, it would undoubtedly be Cao Binghe.
Lan Changhua sighed. "About half a month ago, while Xiao Cao was helping sort out project data, he suddenly lost his vision."
Couldn’t see? Blind? Was it an issue with his retina? Or a problem with the lens?
Du Heng was filled with doubt, but he knew Lan Changhua would tell him more, so he didn’t interrupt.
"At that ti, the Child was sent to the Ophthalmology Departnt of our Hospital. After a thorough check-up, there was nothing wrong with his eyes. After two days, his vision had sowhat recovered, and he could see blurry figures."
Lan Changhua suddenly sighed heavily. "Alas, just when everyone thought Xiao Cao was fine, his eyeballs suddenly developed a faint green tinge, and his eyes began to ache unbearably."
Du Heng hastily asked, "Didn’t he continue with the examinations?"
"He did. This ti, not only were his eyes examined, but his brain was also checked. However, the results were the sa as before—no lesions at all."
Lan Changhua looked at Du Heng with a worried expression, the wrinkles on his face deepening considerably.
Du Heng frowned. "Professor Lan, you’re a nationally renowned expert in Traditional Chinese dicine Internal dicine. Surely you have a way?"
"I’m ashad. I’ve focused on the Spleen and Stomach for most of my career, and later researched tumors. I don’t know much about eye diseases, so I haven’t been able to reach a correct diagnosis."
Lan Changhua’s spirits were low. After another sigh, he said, "However, I did try. ’Vision is related to the liver,’ and ’the essence of the liver pours into the eyes.’ It is also said that the eye’s system connects downwards to the liver and is substantially rooted in the brain. Now, Xiao Cao suffers from eye pain and cannot see. Therefore, I believe his current symptoms are due to insufficient brain qi. The liver qi should respond to this, but because the liver qi is severely deficient and cannot support the brain, it has led to eye pain and blurred vision. I prescribed Xiao Cao dicines like white peony, angelica, Ginseng, fructus juglandis, bupleurum, and radix trichosanthis to nourish the liver and enrich the blood, but they had no effect at all."
Lan Changhua knew Du Heng’s capabilities, having witnessed them personally. So, he didn’t feel ashad to lay out all the facts before Du Heng. Moreover, he also hoped Du Heng could take a look and see if Cao Binghe could be cured.
Cao Binghe was only thirty years old this year and was considered his last formal disciple. Seeing Cao Binghe on the verge of going blind, Lan Changhua was extrely anxious.
Du Heng’s mind raced. "Professor Lan, haven’t you consulted other ophthalmology experts?"
"We have. We’ve seen all of them. All the reputable ophthalmology experts in the Capital, practitioners of both traditional Chinese dicine and Western dicine, have examined him."
Lan Changhua’s spirits remained low. "The Western dicine doctors all reached the sa conclusion: they couldn’t find the cause. So Western dicine was tried, but nothing worked. A few old colleagues in traditional Chinese dicine also helped examine him. Their conclusions differed slightly from mine, but overall, they all inferred problems with the brain qi and liver qi. Everyone prescribed dicine targeting these two areas and made adjustnts, but ultimately, the effects were poor. Instead, the green tinge on Xiao Cao’s eyeballs has actually worsened considerably."
After hearing all this, Du Heng pursed his lips.
Experts in both Chinese and Western dicine have seen him, yet none have found a treatnt approach. This is definitely a complex and difficult case. So now it’s co to the stage of poring over dical books. If a solution can be found in the books, regardless of whether it leads to a cure, it would at least bring so peace of mind. If nothing is found in the books, Cao Binghe might just end up contributing to dical developnt by lending his na to a new disease: Cao’s Ocular Affliction. However, given Lan Changhua’s connections, the experts he consulted would have been top-tier. These are genuine specialists. If they couldn’t diagnose the illness on the spot, the likelihood of finding an answer by combing through books is also slim. So, it seems Cao Binghe is indeed destined to make a contribution to dical advancent.
"Professor Lan, is there really no other way?"
"I have an appointnt with Sir Shi. I plan to take Xiao Cao with this afternoon and ask Sir Shi to help take a look."
Du Heng was slightly taken aback. "The Sir Shi you ntioned is...?"
"Sir Shi Chengde."
"You an the 103-year-old Sir Shi Chengde from the Chinese dicine Academy Guangn Hospital?"
"Yes, Sir Shi is an expert in liver diseases. Having him examine Xiao Cao might yield an answer."
User Comments
0 comments from readers