Chapter 157: The Pros and Cons of Traditional Chinese Medicine

  "Thank you, Doctor Wang. It's all our fault, my husband and I. Sigh!" The woman said with a sigh, her eyes also reddening. The couple's problems affecting their child is indeed a sad reality of modern society.

  "Don't be polite." Wang Xu smiled and wrote a prescription for Zhao Kai to grab the medicine, while reminding the girl: "If there's anything, try not to hide it in your heart. Saying it out loud will make you feel better. If it's inconvenient to tell your mom, then talk to a good friend about it."

  After hearing Wang Xu's reminder and seeing her mother's suffering, Juanjuan nodded. But she couldn't understand why thinking of her father would make her contract this strange illness.

  Wang Xu saw the girl's confusion and explained, "Overthinking hurts your spirit. You're introverted by nature, keeping everything hidden in your heart, which eventually leads to dysfunction of the five organs and six viscera, causing yin and yang imbalance."

  Zhao Kai took the prescription written by Wang Xu, grabbed the medicine, and handed it to Wang Xu. He sent the mother and daughter out of the clinic. Watching them leave, Wang Xu couldn't help but sigh. The girl's illness was actually a heart problem. The medicine he prescribed could cure her current symptoms, but if the girl's heart knot wasn't untied, there would be more trouble in the future. However, this kind of thing wasn't something he could help with.

  Watching the mother and daughter disappear, Wang Xu turned around to bring the clinic, smiling at Feng Shaoyu and Chen Zhongwen: "Let Mr. Feng and General Manager Chen wait for a long time."

  "No, no, we were originally going to leave, but unexpectedly got to see Dr. Wang's superb medical skills before leaving, it really opened our eyes." Chen Zhongwen said sincerely.

  Although Feng Shao and Tang Fei had high praise for Wang Xu, when Chen Zhongwen saw Wang Xu in person, he was still somewhat disappointed. After all, Wang Xu was too young. However, after witnessing Wang Xu's diagnosis of the mother-daughter pair earlier, Chen Zhongwen finally understood that despite his youth, this Dr. Wang truly had skills. He could discern a family's secrets just by taking their pulse, a technique that could be described as nothing short of divine.

  After Feng Shao and Yu left, it was almost 9 o'clock in the evening, and there were only a few patients coming to the clinic. Wang Xu, Peng Shan, and Zhao Kai sat inside chatting idly.

  Three people are all TCM doctors, and naturally they can't help but talk about TCM. Unconsciously, they started discussing the current state of TCM and the differences between Chinese and Western medicine.

  There is no doubt that Western medicine is now more acceptable to the masses than traditional Chinese medicine, whether in terms of treatment speed or efficacy. Most people choose Western medicine.

  Peng Shan sighed, "In the past when I was in school, I didn't feel this way, but now that I've entered society, I realize that traditional Chinese medicine is far inferior to Western medicine. When I was at the Provincial People's Hospital in Gaochuan, it was only because of my teacher's influence that I managed to hold my own. Some doctors, when they heard I was a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, looked down on me with disdain."

  "You're wrong to think that way, Western medicine is indeed superior to traditional Chinese medicine in terms of overall status, but the true masters of traditional Chinese medicine are actually higher than most famous Western doctors. Take Hua Tuo and Zhang Zhongjing for example, as a doctor, they enjoyed treatment at the level of a government minister, which doesn't exist in Western medicine." Wang Xu said with a smile.

  "This remark is quite right, it has restored some of my confidence." Peng Shan said with a smile: "Traditional Chinese medicine indeed has great advantages in treating difficult and complicated diseases. Many symptoms that Western medicine can't explain or only partially understand, traditional Chinese medicine can treat very well, this is something that most Western medicine can't match."

  "This is the advantage of traditional Chinese medicine, but at the same time it's also its disadvantage. Traditional Chinese medicine starts from the overall perspective of the human body, using the adjustment and regulation of the defensive system to enhance the body's overall immune function for treatment. It can indeed cure some difficult and complicated diseases that Western medicine cannot diagnose clearly or has limited understanding of. Even tumors considered terminal by Western medicine are not completely untreatable by traditional Chinese medicine. However, these are not common abilities among traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, popularization is a big problem." Wang Xu sighed.

  "This is indeed the case, Western medicine is easy to popularize, as long as you understand basic medical knowledge and cooperate with various instruments, most Western doctors can get started quickly. Traditional Chinese medicine is limited in this aspect." Peng Shan nodded in agreement.

  Wang Xu smiled and said, "People often say that the best doctor treats the country, the middle doctor treats people, and the lower doctor treats diseases. This accurately describes the theory of traditional Chinese medicine. What is meant by 'treating the country' is changing and regulating the living environment around people. Diseases arise from the environment, and different environments give rise to different soil for diseases to grow. As for 'treating people', it refers to correcting people's thoughts. A person's spirit is most important, emotions affect yin and yang, and yin and yang give rise to diseases. Good thoughts and moral character cultivate good emotions, and those who understand how to nurture life often live to be a hundred years old. Only then comes treating diseases."

  Wang Xu said, pausing for a moment before continuing: "From this we can see that traditional Chinese medicine's approach to treating illness is a last resort. The true essence of traditional Chinese medicine lies in preventing illness before it occurs. Environmental and emotional factors are indispensable, and traditional Chinese medicine is the crystallization of experience gained by ancient people through their long-term struggle against disease, rather than a scientific theory."

  Peng Shan nodded in agreement and said, "Nowadays, the social environment is polluted, people's pace of life has accelerated, material conditions have improved, but spiritual enjoyment has declined. This has restricted the development of traditional Chinese medicine to a certain extent."

  "It's exactly like this, the country and people have already disappeared from medical treatment, what remains is only treating illnesses. Traditional Chinese medicine wants to keep up with the times, it must create its own suitable medical system, previous ways of thinking are no longer effective." Wang Xu sighed.

  Zhao Kai listened to Wang Xu and Peng Shan's conversation on the side, nodding constantly. His understanding was far inferior compared to Wang Xu and Peng Shan, this kind of truth he had never thought about before.

  Looking at Zhao Kai nodding, Wang Xu said with a smile: "Rather than saying that medical skills are a natural science, it's better to say that they are a social science. It includes all sorts of things, and treating illnesses is just one of the main components. Take Western medicine for example, it targets individual diseases and viruses, but the speed at which these viruses multiply far exceeds the speed at which you can find a breakthrough. Solving one problem only leads to another new problem emerging. Just like in 2003, when a strange virus suddenly appeared, it would leave most doctors flustered."

  Mentioning this, Wang Xu was deeply moved. At that time when the epidemic came, Wang Heyan was still alive and he was only in his third year of high school. According to news reports, many people died globally due to the epidemic, but Qingfu County did not have a single case. Among the 15 patients discovered, Wang Heyan cured all of them.

  There was no vaccine, nor any specific medicine. Wang Heyan didn't know what it was either. In his view, at that time, it was nothing but a plague caused by spring warmth and dampness. He started with the patient's symptoms, made a correct diagnosis, used orthodox methods to dispel evil, and employed dozens of traditional Chinese medicines to clear heat and detoxify, dispel heat and reach the pathogen, while also administering intravenous injections of traditional Chinese medicine to enhance the effect.

  Just as the news of Wang Heyan's treatment was getting more and more intense, the leaders of Qingfu County suggested isolating the patients at that time, but Wang Heyan was single-minded and eventually cured one patient after another.

  At that time, in the hands of what was then called a fatal disease, Wang Heyan defeated rumors with facts and defeated the disease, showing the charm of traditional Chinese medicine.

  To put it in the words of Wang He, all diseases are nothing but variations of the same underlying principle. Whether it is this or that, these viruses may change their names, but they ultimately cause disease by affecting the body's own yin and yang, qi and blood. As long as one understands this principle, and uses tonifying and purging methods to treat illness, all diseases can be cured.

  Wang Heyan used traditional Chinese medicine to cure what was then considered a fatal disease, but the current situation of traditional Chinese medicine remains the same. Why is this? It's because there are too few people who practice traditional Chinese medicine.

  Throughout the country, there were only a dozen or so Chinese medicine doctors like Wang He, and even if each of them cured 15 people, it would be just a few hundred people, which is negligible compared to the number of deaths.

  For TCM, reading and clinical practice are the two legs to move forward, studying under a famous master is like adding wings again. However, there are too few masters of TCM, and talents are scarce.

  He and Peng Shan Zhao Kai chatted until eleven o'clock in the evening, when Wang Xu finally returned home with Peng Shan. Although the three of them were just chatting casually, their conversation did reveal some truths about traditional Chinese medicine.

  The differences between Chinese and Western medicine, each has its strengths and weaknesses. Only by making up for the shortcomings with the strengths can traditional Chinese medicine find a way to develop, and compete with Western medicine in an era where Western medicine is dominant.

  Of course, this is a long process that cannot be accomplished by one or two people. It requires step-by-step accumulation. Wang Xu needs to perfect himself and find his own way.

  The next day, after breakfast, Peng Shan had nothing to do, so he went to Fusheng Hall to help out. Wang Xu took Peng Shan's documents and drove to the Provincial People's Hospital to have Chen Zhongwen's father treated, while also asking him to help with passport formalities.

  As they approached the Provincial People's Hospital, Wang Xu called Chen Zhongwen. By the time the car stopped in front of the hospital, Chen Zhongwen was already waiting at the entrance, along with Tang Fei, the president of the hospital.

  "Dr. Wang has arrived, our provincial hospital is flourishing!" Seeing Wang Xu, Tang Fei smiled and welcomed him warmly.

  "Director Tang is being polite, as long as you don't blame me for stealing the business from Shengren Hospital, I'll be secretly delighted." Wang Xu said with a smile.

  "We're actually afraid you'll snatch the business, but we don't have that skill, so it's not others' fault." Tang Fei also joked with a smile, and as they spoke, the three of them walked towards the inpatient department together.

  Chen Zhongwen is a Xijiang native, but his net worth is obviously not low. The ward where Old Man Chen lives is one of the best in the provincial hospital, and it's extremely spacious.

  On the way to the ward, Wang Xu met Lán Màoshèng from the Provincial People's Hospital. When Lán Màoshèng saw Wang Xu, his face looked unnatural and he hastily passed by, not even bothering to greet Tang Fei.

  Watching Blue Mosheng hurry away, Tang Fei burst out laughing and said: "Doctor Wang, I heard that you made a bet with Blue Mosheng. Now that Mrs. Peng's condition has improved greatly, Blue Mosheng must be feeling embarrassed to show his face." From the tone of Tang Fei's words, it seemed like he wasn't too fond of Blue Mosheng either.

  "Mrs. Peng's illness hasn't been cured yet, it's too early to say that, who knows, maybe when the time comes, I'll be the one who has to go around Director Lan." Wang Xu chuckled and said, as the three of them entered the ward together.

  PS: This chapter is also a casual talk, a temporary feeling, and the above description is also true. The name of this famous doctor will not be mentioned, after all, to avoid causing any controversy.

  Also, let's talk about the monthly ticket ranking. If you don't fight for it, you won't know what will happen. This world has darkness everywhere, and some books with poor subscriptions suddenly skyrocket in a day or two. I won't say why, but everyone knows that no matter how others do it, Xiaoxiao uses hard work to gain support. There is always justice in the world, and taking shortcuts will never last long. Support Xiaoxiao with monthly tickets if you agree.