(Question from East and West) Diarra, the first foreign doctor of Chinese medicine: Doctors do not ask things
China News Agency, Beijing, May 4th, Question: Diarra, the first foreign doctor of Chinese medicine: the doctor does not ask anything
China News Agency reporter Luo Haibing
A foreigner, attracted by TCM and its Chinese culture, came to China to study, not only did he get a doctorate, but also stayed in China to practice medicine.
In addition to overcoming the obstacles of listening to dialects and learning ancient Chinese medicine, the bigger confusion is, will anyone ask him for consultation?
When the reporter saw Diarra, he was visiting a Chinese medicine hospital in Chengdu.
His dark skin was complemented by a white coat, with a blue Chinese-style singlet underneath, and his eyes were focused and energetic.
In order to dispel a patient's fear of doing TCM diagnosis and treatment, he joked in standard Sichuan dialect, "Ba Shi is very good."
Because of his trust in his medical ethics and skills, the narrow corridors of the hospital are already full of patients who come here.
Across cultures and national borders, Diarra has not only fulfilled his "dream of traditional Chinese medicine", but is also helping traditional Chinese medicine go global.
Recently, the first foreign TCM doctor to receive a doctorate in TCM accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "Dongxiwen".
In his view, traditional Chinese medicine is a part of the Chinese national culture, and the excellent traditional culture belongs to the world and is worthy of being owned and shared by the world.
Whether in the East or in the West, a doctor should be as described in the Chinese Tang Dynasty medical scientist Sun Simiao's document on medical ethics "Great Doctor Jingcheng": "Universal and equal, all are like the thoughts of close relatives."
China News Agency reporter: You were born in a medical family in Mali. You came to China in 1984 to study Western medicine. Why did you switch to Chinese medicine?
Diarra:
In 1984, I gave up the opportunity to study in Europe and went to China to study Western medicine and general surgery.
But soon after I started thinking, since I came to China, why didn't I study Chinese medicine with Chinese characteristics?
Suddenly changed my mind and many people did not support me.
First, I didn't know much about Chinese medicine at the time.
Second, many foreigners, including me, didn't know much about China at that time.
But one thing got me hooked on TCM.
A classmate's foot was sprained while playing football, and the pain was terrible.
The school doctor gave him acupuncture and moxibustion, and the student could stand up and walk back to the dormitory with us in a moment.
At the time I thought it was amazing, this is Chinese medicine!
After that, I first studied at the Guangzhou College of Traditional Chinese Medicine for a master’s degree, and then at the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine for a doctoral degree. Until I graduated with a doctorate in 1997, I became the first foreigner to receive a doctorate in traditional Chinese medicine.
Diarra and his teacher, Sun Guangrong, a master of Chinese medicine.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee issued by China News Agency
China News Service: What are the similarities and differences between Western medicine and Chinese medicine?
Diarra:
I am lucky, I have studied Western medicine and Chinese medicine.
Both of these medicines make indelible contributions to human health.
Some people ask me, "Do you think Chinese medicine is good? Is it worth believing?" It's very simple. If Chinese medicine is not good, how can the 5,000-year-old civilization of the Chinese nation continue to this day?
Western medicine has been in China for less than 200 years, just like before the arrival of Europeans, Malians only believed in traditional Malian medicine.
Traditional Chinese medicine is based on a series of methods for preventing and treating diseases that the ancients summed up in the process of fighting against diseases in nature.
Western medicine is different, and it is treated individually, such as why there is a fever, to find the specific cause, is it a bacteria or a virus, is it type A or type C?
Destroy it again.
Chinese medicine is about people and the whole.
Western medicine deals with diseases that are born to people.
The two should learn from each other, learn from each other's strengths, and make each other stronger.
China News Service reporter: What difficulties did you overcome in the process of learning Chinese medicine?
Diarra:
As a foreigner, the biggest difficulty at the time was language.
I first learned Chinese for a year and a half, and then I went to class directly with Chinese classmates, which was definitely not easy.
I remember that there were 8 international students in the class at that time, because they could not pass the language barrier, only two were left in the second and third year of the sophomore year.
It is more difficult to listen to dialects and learn ancient Chinese medicine.
I first studied Mandarin in Beijing, and then went to Guangzhou for classes. The teachers were all Cantonese. I taught the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine to a foreigner in Cantonese. I couldn't understand it in the first year.
Later, I prepared an ancient Chinese dictionary and a Xinhua dictionary, and recited it while reading it, and with the help of my classmates and teachers, I passed the test.
Also, communicate with Chinese patients.
A dark-skinned foreigner learns traditional Chinese medicine, will the patient see you?
I have to work harder than others to understand dialects, including Cantonese and Sichuan dialect, and find a way to communicate with patients to gain their trust, which is more difficult.
Diarra treats patients.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee issued by China News Agency
China News Agency reporter: Traditional Chinese medicine takes yin and yang and five elements as the theoretical basis, and regards the human body as the unity of qi, shape and spirit. How do you view the Chinese culture behind traditional Chinese medicine?
Diarra:
Traditional Chinese medicine culture is a summary of the wisdom and practice of the Chinese people on life, health and disease.
It includes knowledge system and medical service system such as cognitive thinking mode, values of life and death, health concept, doctor-patient relationship, diagnosis and treatment method, health preservation method, lifestyle, drug prescription and operation system.
It is based on the idea of "the unity of heaven and earth, the unity of heaven and man, the harmony between heaven and earth, and the harmony and difference".
For example, Shen Nong tasted hundreds of herbs. He tried hundreds of herbs on himself to know the effect of these medicines, instead of testing them on animals and then using them on humans.
Therefore, TCM profoundly embodies the cognitive style and value orientation of the Chinese nation, and contains the essence of the rich Chinese culture.
Taijiquan lovers are playing Taijiquan and using their bodies to make up "gossip" patterns.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yang Huafeng
TCM enriches the cultural spirit of the Chinese nation, is a part of Chinese culture, and reflects the Chinese nation's understanding of life, health and disease.
By understanding Chinese medicine, you can better understand the Chinese culture, and the two are interoperable.
China News Agency reporter: In the current global anti-epidemic process, traditional Chinese medicine has played a unique role. Do you know the specific practice of traditional Chinese medicine in the Western world?
Diarra:
The global new crown pneumonia epidemic came suddenly, we do not know it, nor have we experienced it.
At the beginning of the epidemic, the Mali ambassador to China called me and said that he believed in traditional Chinese medicine very much. He asked me what I can do?
I replied to him that although the cause of the disease is unknown, because Chinese medicine does not look at the patient, but the manifestation, that is, the clinical symptoms, we can find the corresponding method of syndrome differentiation and treatment (the basic principle of understanding and treating diseases in Chinese medicine).
Like there are many cases of successful treatment of plagues in history, I believe that Chinese medicine has a way.
In addition, my postdoctoral research project is to use traditional Chinese medicine to treat H7N9 influenza. Traditional Chinese medicine can help the human body fight against external evils, including viruses.
Later, we did see that after the intervention of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of the new crown, it has played a very good role, and the total effective rate is very high, and after the intervention of traditional Chinese medicine, it can effectively relieve symptoms, reduce the mild, moderate to severe course of the disease, and improve the cure. rate and reduce mortality.
It is reported that Ningxia Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital has made full use of the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine to brew a new crown pneumonia prevention decoction, and provide it free of charge to people in centralized isolation and key control communities to help fight the epidemic.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yu Jing
China has submitted to the World Health Organization the role of traditional Chinese medicine in fighting the epidemic.
Under the leadership of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, we have also held several video conferences with our international counterparts to introduce Chinese medicine for epidemic prevention.
Chinese medicine practitioners should let Westerners understand these achievements. Although they may not agree with them, the case of Chinese medicine in fighting the epidemic is undeniable.
China News Agency reporter: As the first foreign doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, while you are practicing medicine in China, you also help Chinese medicine go to the world. Do you think there are no borders in practicing medicine, and do doctors need to ask questions?
Diarra:
There is a sentence in "The Great Physician's Sincerity" (an important document on medical ethics in the classics of traditional Chinese medicine): When a great doctor treats a disease, he must calm his mind and resolve his mind. I vow to save the suffering of the soul.
If someone comes to seek help from an ill or calamity, they should not ask about their status, wealth, or poverty, elders and children, good friends, ignorance and wisdom of the Chinese and barbarians.
The ancient Chinese had this idea hundreds of years ago, and it is very precious.
Every doctor should be as described in "The Great Doctor's Sincerity", "universal and equal, all are like the thoughts of close relatives".
As a doctor, it is my duty to demonstrate self-worth and use what I have learned to serve others.
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Diarra, born in 1964 in a medical family in the Republic of Mali, received a scholarship to study in China in 1984, and received a doctorate from Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1997, becoming the first foreign doctor to receive a doctorate in traditional Chinese medicine.
Trained thousands of rural doctors in Yunnan in the late 1990s.
From 2012 to 2015, he worked in the postdoctoral mobile station of Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
He is currently the successor of Sun Guangrong, Shi Xuemin, Liu Minru, Tang Zuxuan's academic experience inheritance studio, and vice chairman of China-Africa Friendship Association.