Foreign doctors study traditional Chinese medicine in China

A group of Ukrainian doctors completed their month-long study of traditional Chinese medicine on Friday in northwest China's Gansu Province.

Iurkivska Maria, one of the 14 doctors who took the course, said before coming to China, she knew little about Chinese medicine and thought "it was mysterious".

"Now I realize that it focuses on patients' inner-cycles. Acupuncture, acupressure and cupping have less side-effects than western medicine," said the 29-year-old Kiev-based health care practitioner.

The program was held as part of the first Gansu-Ukraine International Seminar on Traditional Chinese Medicine. It included hospital tours and lectures. Chinese specialists shared the basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine and specific therapies like acupuncture. The seminar was hosted by Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

During the study, Samoilovych Oleksandra, 55, even skipped meals to read books on the traditional medicine. Click to learn Male Infertility in TCM.

"It was Chinese herbal medicine that cured my father two years ago after western therapies failed to treat him," said Oleksandra.

Li Yingdong, vice president of Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, was one of the Chinese specialists on the seminar. He said although language was a problem, the doctors were keen to study.

Li went to Ukraine in October to give lectures and offered free consultations to local patients.

Liu Weizhong, director of the Gansu provincial health bureau, said international exchanges could help promote Chinese traditional therapies worldwide.

Besides the seminar, Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine has signed a deal with Bogomolets National Medical University of Ukraine, to jointly build a traditional Chinese medicine study institute at the Ukrainian university.

Li said Gansu has carried out exchanges with Kyrgyzstan, Hungary and Moldova in the field of traditional Chinese medicine.

Gansu Province is one of the country's largest herbal medicine production bases.

Article source: Xinhua