truly unique, truly Vietnamese. Especially in the current period, the State has a national drug policy on traditional medicine and a strategy to modernize Vietnamese traditional medicine. These are the conditions that support and create momentum for Vietnamese traditional medicine to develop more strongly in the 21st century.
2. The significance of combining modern medicine with traditional medicine to build Vietnamese medicine
2.1. Combining modern medicine with traditional medicine is a revolution in medicine to build a Vietnamese medicine that is fully scientific, national and popular.
In a letter to the health sector on February 27, 1955, President Ho Chi Minh wrote: “During the years of slavery, our medicine, like other sectors, was restrained. Now that we are independent and free, cadres need to help our compatriots and the government build a health system that is suitable for the medical needs of our people. Medicine must also be based on the principles of nationalism - science - mass. Our ancestors had valuable experiences in treating diseases with Vietnamese and Chinese medicine. To expand the scope of medicine, you should also study the combination of Eastern and Western medicine.” Since then, the issue of combining modern medicine with traditional medicine has become the goal of the entire health sector on the path to building Vietnamese medicine.
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Medicine today is the result of protecting the health of many peoples in the world and the advancement of science and technology. The traditional medicine of the Vietnamese people itself is a combination of Vietnamese folk experience with the traditional medicine of neighboring countries in the specific conditions of the country, people and the disease situation of our people. Each medicine has its own strengths and certain shortcomings. The combination will complement each other and make Vietnamese medicine more scientific in nature, becoming one of the most progressive medicines of the era.
Combining modern medicine and traditional medicine, applying the quintessence of the world with the rich experience of our ancestors, using modern technical means to improve treatment effectiveness, based on favorable natural medicinal resources, along with non-drug methods, to have the most suitable disease prevention and treatment methods for the nation, imbued with national character.
By combining measures, Vietnamese medicine has a popular nature, for the purpose of serving the work of caring for and protecting the health of the majority of Vietnamese people, and is favored and trusted by the people.
2.2. Vietnamese medicine is based on the motto of combining modern medicine with traditional medicine, uniting and unifying the entire medical staff to serve the cause of building a socialist medical system .
The Vietnamese medical organization consists of a large number of cadres trained in many different specialties of modern medicine, along with a team of professional and semi-professional traditional medicine practitioners, gathered in traditional medicine clinics and traditional medicine associations. Uniting all these forces will form a network.
powerful, widespread, capable of meeting the health care needs of the people of the whole country.
Currently, in many regions of the country, especially in mountainous areas, there are still many valuable experiences in treating diseases, good remedies, and precious medicinal plants that are only used in a small area and are at risk of being lost. We need to urgently collect, inherit, and promote them. Only by closely combining the two medical systems can this be done.
A large, organized and effective medical staff is one of the necessary conditions for the health sector to strictly implement the Constitution and the resolution of the 5th National Party Congress, and to carry out President Ho Chi Minh's teaching " A doctor is like a kind mother ".
2.3. Vietnamese medicine combines modern medicine with traditional medicine, fully embodying the characteristics of self-reliance, self-improvement, and thrift in building socialism.
Effective and inexpensive disease prevention and treatment methods that are being applied, such as: health care, massage, acupressure, acupuncture, herbal medicine... need to be widely disseminated among the people to prevent and treat diseases themselves, realizing the preventive nature of revolutionary medicine.
Our country has a huge source of medicinal herbs, many precious medicinal plants, of high value for treatment and export. With favorable natural conditions, the country stretches across many different latitudes, altitudes, and climates, which is favorable for the migration and development of medicinal herbs to be self-sufficient in raw materials for medicine, creating conditions to reduce imports, increase exports, and enrich the country.
Therefore, the motto of combining modern medicine with traditional medicine is also the content of the viewpoint of self-reliance, self-strengthening, industry building and thrift building socialism of the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.
3. Measures to combine modern medicine with traditional medicine.
Based on President Ho's letter, the Resolutions of the 3rd, 4th and 5th National Party Congresses, the decisions of the Government Council 266CP, the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the guiding circulars of the Ministry of Health, the work of combining the two medical systems to build Vietnamese medicine needs to pay attention to implementing the following measures:
3.1. About ideological perception:
It is necessary to make everyone, especially medical staff, clearly see the necessity and benefits of building Vietnamese medicine on the basis of combining modern and traditional medicine. Overcome some wrong perceptions and tendencies such as:
- Lack of trust, not seriously and creatively implementing the Resolutions of the Party and Government on this issue.
- Some people underestimate the disease prevention and treatment value of traditional medicine due to the influence of foreign books.
- The narrow-minded nationalistic ideology and tendency of some people in the traditional medicine community towards the adoption of modern medicine and the experience of Eastern medicine.
3.2. Perfecting the organization of combining modern medicine with traditional medicine from central to local levels:
Many measures need to be taken simultaneously, with the following two issues being most important:
- Build and perfect advisory organizations for the Ministry of Health and Departments of Health, effectively direct multi-faceted coordination work; guidelines, implementation direction, organization, medical examination and treatment, medicinal herbs work, training work.
- Organize a network of medical examination and treatment using traditional medicine methods from the central to the grassroots level within the State health system, especially leading research institutes, central hospitals, traditional medicine institutes, as well as general hospitals in the provinces, which are places with conditions to inherit, improve, promote and develop traditional medicine treatment methods.
Note that the primary health care system is the place that directly examines and treats common illnesses and provides primary health care guidance to the people.
3.3. Inheriting the treatment experiences of traditional medicine.
Promote the research, application and development of traditional medicine in the direction of combining with modern medicine. Among the people, especially ethnic minority areas, there are currently many experiences, medicinal plants are being used according to the family tradition, there needs to be appropriate methods and worthy reward policies to prove and widely use those valuable remedies, medicinal herbs and treatment methods.
Some of the tasks that need to be done to make the succession process effective are:
- Most of the talented and experienced physicians are of advanced age and need to be urgently organized for succession according to the instructions of the Ministry of Health.
- It is necessary to train some people who know Han Nom script to serve the work of collecting and re-translating handed down documents, studying the works of famous doctors of the past, and contributing to compiling documents on the history of traditional national medicine.
3.4. Promote staff training and disseminate traditional medicine experiences in disease prevention and treatment:
Urgently expand the scale of training a team of cadres who can undertake teaching, scientific research, inheritance, and medical examination and treatment by combining modern medicine and traditional medicine.
It is necessary to disseminate to all medical staff some knowledge and practice of treatment methods, especially acupuncture and the use of available domestic medicine sources, with special attention paid to the number of medical staff at the grassroots level.
It is necessary to train many specialized staff in medicinal herbs, mastering the techniques of preparing oriental medicine using traditional methods and modern technology.
3.5. Promote traditional medicine research:
The treatment methods of traditional medicine are very valuable and rich, but are still within the scope of clinical and empirical medicine. It is necessary to use modern research techniques to prove, correct and improve them. Research work needs to focus on the following steps:
- Research the works of famous Vietnamese physicians to build and add to the treasure trove of experience in traditional Vietnamese medicine.
- Research and apply effective, inexpensive methods to treat common diseases among the people.
- Research methods to treat some incurable diseases that modern medicine is having difficulty preventing and treating, contributing to the development of world medicine.
- Research available domestic medicinal herbs, verify pharmacological effects, study chemical composition and evaluate treatment effectiveness.
- Research on transplanting drugs that must still be imported.
- Research to improve the dosage form of highly effective medicines to serve the pharmaceutical industry.
3.6. Develop comprehensive policies to serve the work of combining modern medicine and traditional medicine: Pay special attention to developing and implementing policies on:
- Treatment and benefits according to the talent and dedication of the doctors.
- Timely reward and encourage contributions of treatment experience, traditional medicine, precious medicinal plants...
- Create conditions for traditional medicine practitioners to practice in traditional medicine diagnosis and treatment groups and clinics, especially in people's health organizations and state health organizations.
- Mobilize ethnic minorities in the highlands to contribute their family experience and valuable medicinal plants.
3.7. Solve the problem of medicinal materials well.
Developing rich domestic medicinal resources is of particular importance to effectively implement the policy of closely combining the two medical systems. The tasks that need to be focused on are:
- Investigate natural medicinal plant reserves, create medicinal plant maps in regions nationwide.
- Delimit the cultivation of medicinal herbs available domestically and imported species to meet domestic and export needs.
- Continue to research migration nationwide.
- Encourage the purchase and cultivation of medicinal herbs.
- Encourage and promote the use of traditional medicine and products made from traditional medicine.
4. Procedure for combining modern medicine with traditional medicine in inheriting a traditional medicine:
Through many years of practice, we can draw from practice 3 basic stages of the research process to inherit a traditional medicine prescription as follows:
Phase 1: Selection.
Selecting a traditional medicine with good effectiveness is the first and most necessary stage. If the wrong choice is made (the medicine is not really effective), the combination is meaningless. The selection process is mainly through clinical trials. The following 3 conditions must be followed:
- Experimental drugs must be tested for toxicity and stabilized by certain temporary standards depending on the form of use (pills, alcohol, topical use, etc.)
- Must know clearly the ingredients and actual preparation regulations.
- There must be at least one clinician to select patients and monitor the effectiveness of the drug through improvement in symptoms after taking the drug. The trial results must be approved by an Evaluation Board.
Phase 2: Inheritance for preparation
- It is necessary to strictly follow traditional or folk experience in preparation when there is no scientific basis for change, for example: drying, roasting, marinating methods...
- If it is necessary to change the preparation process, it must be proven by experiment, avoid mechanical reasoning.
Phase 3: Effectiveness
When the inherited medicine is clinically effective, to promote its effectiveness, it is possible to change the dosage form to promote its effectiveness, making it convenient for use and preservation.
Combining modern medicine with traditional medicine of the nation to build Vietnamese medicine is a wise and correct policy of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh that the National Party Congresses from the 3rd to the present have persistently proposed in the Resolution. Only by successfully implementing the resolutions of the Party Congress can we build a Vietnamese medicine that is fully scientific, national and popular, each medical staff will truly be a "kind mother" of the patient, with the conditions to contribute their intelligence and talent to the prosperous future of the country and the happiness of the people.
CHAPTER II
BASIC THEORIES OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
TARGET
1. Present the basic content of the theory of yin and yang and the five elements.
2. Apply the theory of yin and yang and the five elements to Oriental medicine.
3. Present the application of the theory of yin and yang and the five elements in traditional medicine.
I. THEORY OF YIN AND YANG
1. ORIGIN
The theory of yin and yang is a part of oriental philosophy, the main ideology of ancient oriental materialism, it represents the process of perceiving the laws of motion and development of phenomena, applied by the ancients 3000 years ago. The theory of yin and yang is applied in many different scientific fields such as astronomy, geology, agriculture, mathematics, chemistry, traditional medicine... In which traditional medicine has applied the theory of yin and yang comprehensively and extremely richly. The theory was formed and widely developed since the Spring Warring States period (China). It is a basic theory to explain the laws between humans and nature, the universe. In which humans are considered a whole, a miniature universe, it permeates from beginning to end, from simple to complex throughout the process from body structure, physiology, pathology, diagnosis and treatment of traditional medicine.
2. CONTENT
The basic content of the Yin-Yang theory is that in every thing and phenomenon, there always exist two objectively opposing but unified sides, both harmonious and similar; but also conflicting and contrasting. Both sides of Yin and Yang are active processes of things. Yin and Yang, although abstract in concept, have a clear material basis, it covers everything, is universal in everything. All human thinking must take Yin and Yang as the basis. All theoretical analysis in traditional medicine must consider the issue of Yin and Yang first.
3. BASIC RULES IN THE THEORY OF YIN AND YANG
a) Yin and Yang are opposite to each other:
Opposition is the struggle, contradiction, and mutual restraint between the two sides of yin and yang.
For example: day and night; water and fire; the process of inhibition and excitement…
b) Yin and Yang support each other:
Mutual dependence is mutual support. Although Yin and Yang are opposites, they must rely on each other to coexist and have meaning. Both processes are aspects.
The positive aspects of things cannot arise and develop alone. For example, there must be assimilation before there can be catabolism. Conversely, if there is no catabolism, the assimilation process will stop. If there is a negative number, there is a positive number. Excitement and inhibition are both active processes of the cerebral cortex.
c) Yin and Yang growth and decline:
Loss is loss; growth is development, expressing the constant movement, the transformation back and forth of the two sides of yin and yang.
Like the climate of the four seasons in a year always changing from cold to warm, from hot to cold. From cold to hot is the process of yin decreasing and yang increasing; from hot to cold is the process of yang decreasing and yin increasing, therefore there are states of hot, warm, cool, cold...
The movement of the two sides of yin and yang is of a phase nature. To a certain extent, there will be a transformation into each other, called "extreme yin generates yang; extreme yang generates yin" or "extreme cold generates heat; extreme heat generates cold".
Application in the development of diseases: Yang diseases such as high fever, to a certain extent can affect the Yin part such as dehydration, electrolyte loss; severe dehydration is a Yin disease, to a certain extent will affect the Yang part such as shock, cardiovascular collapse called Yang loss.
d) Yin and Yang parallel:
Although the two sides of yin and yang are opposite, constantly moving and transforming, they always restore a state of balance and equilibrium.
The imbalance of the two aspects of yin and yang manifests the emergence of diseases in the body. In short, the above four laws of the two aspects of yin and yang express the contradiction but unity, transformation, movement and mutual dependence of all phenomena and things in the material world.
From the four laws above, when applied to medicine, people also see the following categories:
The relative and absolute of the two sides of yin and yang
The opposition between the two aspects of yin and yang is absolute, but in a certain specific condition it is relative. For example: cold is yin and is opposite to heat is yang, but in relative opposition, coolness is yin and is opposite to warmth is yang. Clinically, we see that fever (heat) is yang, but if the fever is high, it is internal, then cold medicine must be used; if the fever is low, it is external, then cool medicine must be used.
In yin there is yang, in yang there is yin
Because yin and yang depend on each other to coexist, they sometimes overlap and transform with each other during the development process.
Lack of sound
Sun
Moon
Shaoyang
Symbol of Yin and Yang
Like the division of time in a day: daytime belongs to yang; from 6am to 12pm is the yang part of yang; from 12pm to 6pm is the yin part of yang - nighttime belongs to yin; from 18am to 24pm is the yin part of yin; from 24pm to 6am is the yang part of yin.
Clinically, when giving drugs to induce sweating to reduce fever, it is important to be careful not to cause excessive sweating which can cause dehydration and electrolyte loss; regarding symptoms, pay attention to symptoms of deficiency and excess, mixed cold and heat; in the body's structure, the organs belong to the yin family such as the liver, kidney... but there is liver yin (liver blood), there is liver yang (liver qi); the kidney has kidney yin (kidney water) and kidney yang (kidney fire)...
Nature and phenomenon
Normally the nature matches the phenomenon. But there are times when the nature does not match the phenomenon, which is called "real and fake". In clinical practice, we must know how to distinguish the correct nature to treat the correct cause.
4. SYMPTOMS OF YIN AND YANG
a) About status
The states of movement, excitement, heat, light… belong to yang. The states of stillness, inhibition, cold, darkness… belong to yin.
b) About space
- The sky is yang, the earth is yin; the sun is yang, the moon is yin.
- In a specific space: above is yang, below is yin; outside is yang, inside is yin...
c) About time
Day belongs to yang, night belongs to yin, as said above yin and yang are relative and in yin there is yang, in yang there is yin.
d) About direction
East and south are yang. North and west are yin.
e) About the weather