MFM E-Letter and Networking Update
Feb 2008Dear friend,
On behalf of all of us at AcuMedic, Chinalife and the Secretariat of the CMIR & CUC, I wish you a happy healthy Chinese New Year!
Lots of water has passed under my bridge in the last few months! With all the colours and eventful interactions that I’ve experienced, the fullness of such makes it difficult for me to know where to begin sharing with you ...
The world is facing a possible recession as the result of the sub-prime banking crisis and the American economic slow down although the credit crunch may be counter-balanced by the rising Eastern economies. The China factor is looming large not only in economic and financial terms, but also in terms of a different civilization and social values. In medical integration, China is making the modernization and globalization of Chinese medicine a top priority in her national policy. A huge sum of money has been earmarked for this development which is an important part of China's interaction with the outside world. China has just published an outline of the policy with 14 ministries and government departments involved in its implementation. The EU Commission responded with a joint Conference on Medical Collaboration organized by the Italian Ministry of Health and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. This initiative, culminating in the Beijing Declaration on International Chinese Medicine Collaboration, is a historical milestone.
On reflection, during the many conferences and summits that I have attended, I've had a heightened sense of the dynamics of change in the global geography of medicine and health!
The clinical research papers delivered at many conferences were innovative and of the quality that signal advances in medical integration and the increasing involvement of sciences, such as System Biology, that might have an impact on providing evidence for Chinese medicine. The key question is in developing a medical methodology capable of guiding the medicine of the future beyond both current Evidence-Based-Medicine and holistic traditional medicine model. The Chinese specialists rightfully ask, “If you use EBM to evaluate Chinese medicine, then can you imagine how the nuns will manage the monks?” Such a question might bemuse you, but it hits right at the centre of the debate in theoretical medicine. “Seeing is no longer believing” according to Prof. Lisa Randall of Harvard University who is postulating the theory of a fifth dimension and multiverses to be proven by experiments in particle physics at CERN next year. If this is proven, the Evidence-Based Medicine methodology of objective empiricism would be out dated by the advances in theoretical science. But then what is the nature of a cognitive logic that can arrive at a fuller picture of true knowledge? This awaits contributions from many great minds!
Prof. Herbert Pietschmann in Vienna told me that according to quantum physics, “The properties of objects, by measurement, are not determined but created”. Perhaps the answer lies in between quantum physics, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and the dialectic logic of Lao Tzu and Hegel.
During the CMIR Medical Conference at the Royal College of Physicians in March, Dr. Andrew Wu predicted the resurgence of Avian Flu in Nov/Dec this year and I was amazed by a report warning of bird flu incidents given on television today (18th December 2007). Dr. Wu's prediction was based on Chinese traditional wisdom in epidemic occurrences. Chinese medical wisdom and rich clinical experience are in need of a comprehensive evaluation and an innovative logical restructure of their system methodology in order to further contribute to 21st century mainstream medical developments. With over 32,000 seed plants (12% of the known world total) and 12,000 medical plants, China (together with South East Asia) is amongst the world’s “Hot Spots” in biodiversity and phytomedicine according to a specialist report during the Ministry of Science and Technology Conference in Beijing this November.
I do not wish this letter to arrive as a heavy note during your festive celebrations. I would like to end this letter with positive Qi by telling you how impressed I am with the Guy’s, King’s, ST Thomas and St George’s medical students in their presentations on integrative medicine as part of their education at the AcuMedic Foundation course. They are the integrative physicians of the future!
You may be interested to know that your happiness (乐) in the New Year may depend on being at ease with the plant radical on top of this character (药) which means “medicine” in Chinese! The concept of medicine in Chinese wisdom is using herbs to regulate happiness. Incidentally, the character for happiness also means ‘music’, therefore I’m signing off with my recent picture of a lady playing the Pipa reflecting the soul of Chinese culture:
Much happiness to you and your family!
Yours sincerely,
MFM
Professor Man Fong Mei
