Virus brings together TCM and Western medicine
Print Edition
The use of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine side by side has been under spotlight during China’s battle against the novel coronavirus.
Chinese doctors suggested an open exchange of knowledge and ideas between TCM and Western medicine could be beneficial as no certain remedies have been found to cure the disease.
“I never thought TCM needed to show its wisdom by making an exclusive claim to cure COVID-19,” said Liu Qingquan, president of Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and head of the first temporary hospital fully supported by TCM doctors and medical workers in Wuhan, the city hard hit by the disease in Hubei Province.
Both Western medicine and TCM doctors monitor vital signs of patients.
At the hospital run by Liu, every patient had tests like CT scans, blood counts and throat swabs.
It would be great if some chemical compounds could precisely strike the pathogen, said Liu.
But with no certain cure, TCM and Western medicine need to work to their strengths.
For prevention and mild cases, doctors around the world have been noting that immunity is the best guard against the coronavirus. It is also TCM’s theory to deal with the disease.
Western medicine is more disease and symptom-centric while TCM tends to be more patient-centric. The overall condition of a patient, from the microscopic level to the holistic view, are considered.
The combination of TCM and Western medicine gave Liu’s hospital three “zeros”: no patients tested positive again after being discharged, no mild cases becoming severe or critical and no hospital staff infected. These were significant in containing the spread of the disease.
For severe and critical cases, supportive Western treatments like ventilators and ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machines are very important, relieving symptoms and preventing adverse events.
TCM was also proved to play a complementary role in intensive care. A TCM injection, Xuebiqing, has been found to be effective against cytokine storm, an overreaction of the immune system that is a cause of death for severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients.
“At the end of the day, the goal of any medicine, Western or TCM, is to help people recover from the disease,” said Liu.
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