This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

If there weren’t even half of the practitioners, could it still be called a Chinese Medicine Hospital?

If it’s not a Chinese Medicine Hospital, why is it still called a Chinese Medicine Hospital?

Du Heng’s mouth twitched. It’s because the country, the ministry, and the provincial authorities allocate support funds for Traditional Chinese Medicine every year, and the money has to go somewhere. Just by having the name, they can receive tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, in support funds annually—why wouldn’t they? And another regulation—that traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions must not be less than 60%—is even more laughable. A Chinese Medicine Hospital is supposed to treat patients and save lives, yet they can’t even ensure 60% of their prescriptions are traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions, let alone 100%. How absurd is that? Using traditional Chinese medicine methods for diagnosis but prescribing Western medicine—it’s like hanging a sheep’s head to sell dog meat, a truly monumental joke.

Lan Changhua was getting older, with high industry status and social status, so the conversation naturally flowed to the development of the industry.

Listening to his concerns about the entire industry and his plans, Du Heng couldn’t get interested at all.

Because what Lan Changhua was saying were all empty and impractical things; it wouldn’t be wrong to call him a grandstander. If one truly wants to change the plight of traditional Chinese medicine, tackling it from two aspects would solve most of the developmental obstacles. First, change the qualification recognition for traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. Using Western medicine’s qualification assessment method—simply swapping out the questions and calling it the traditional Chinese medicine qualification assessment—isn’t entirely useless, but it’s ninety percent useless. Take the common cold, for example. In Western medicine, while there are distinctions like the common cold, influenza, and viral cold, the treatment methods are largely the same, with differences only in the use of a few specific medications. However, in traditional Chinese medicine, classifications for a cold include external conditions due to yang deficiency, wind evil invading the exterior, wind evil with dampness invading the exterior, external conditions due to qi deficiency, external conditions due to qi deficiency with wind evil and dampness, lesser yang syndrome, greater yang syndrome, greater yang-yangming combined syndrome, and greater yang-lesser yang combined syndrome, among others. If the type identified through syndrome differentiation is different, then the use of Chinese herbal medicine will have subtle variations. And in the process of seeing a patient, the most difficult part isn’t prescribing medicine, but clearly differentiating these syndromes. This is why many traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, when treating a minor cold, can end up making the person so sick they’re bedridden. It’s because they fundamentally can’t differentiate the syndromes clearly. The medicine they prescribe is wrong, so how could they possibly cure anyone? However, they can pass the practitioner certification by memorizing books and exam questions. Yet, those truly famous old Chinese doctors among the common folk often have no way of passing these practitioner exams. Second, change the current system for studying Chinese Medicine. Five years in university, and you won’t learn shit. To truly apply what one has learned, one must at least complete graduate studies and then find a reliable Master to guide them for three to five years. Therefore, to make students of traditional Chinese medicine competitive, they either need to start learning from elementary school or study straight through from university to doctoral graduation. But does Lan Changhua know these two points? He knows. But will he try to solve them? He won’t. Because he knows he can’t solve them either. However, without addressing these two aspects, talking about anything else is just a joke. Any other support for the traditional Chinese medicine industry means the top organizations and individuals get to feast until they burst, while mid-to-lower-level practitioners, if not starving to death, are merely hanging on by a thread.

So, when Lan Changhua’s topics started to sound grand and lofty, Du Heng no longer wanted to listen. The more he listened and the more Lan spoke, the more frustrated he felt.

It’s better to just be like now, diligently doing his own work and helping everyone he can within his capabilities.

”Professor Lan, how come I don’t see Dr. Cao? Isn’t he your assistant?”

Du Heng took the opportunity, glanced at Lan Changhua’s new assistant, and hurriedly interrupted Lan Changhua’s reverie about the industry.

But as soon as this topic was brought up, Lan Changhua’s expression changed instantly, becoming very unpleasant.

This startled Du Heng, who quickly asked, ”Professor Lan, did I...?”

Lan Changhua waved his hand. ”It’s not your fault; Xiao Cao had a little incident.”

Cao Binghe had an accident?

”What happened to Dr. Cao?” Du Heng asked urgently.

During his time in the Capital, if he had to say who he had the best relationship with, it would undoubtedly be Cao Binghe.

Lan Changhua sighed. ”About half a month ago, while Xiao Cao was helping sort out project data, he suddenly lost his vision.”

Couldn’t see? Blind? Was it an issue with his retina? Or a problem with the lens?

Du Heng was filled with doubt, but he knew Lan Changhua would tell him more, so he didn’t interrupt.

”At that time, the Child was sent to the Ophthalmology Department of our Hospital. After a thorough check-up, there was nothing wrong with his eyes. After two days, his vision had somewhat recovered, and he could see blurry figures.”

Lan Changhua suddenly sighed heavily. ”Alas, just when everyone thought Xiao Cao was fine, his eyeballs suddenly developed a faint green tinge, and his eyes began to ache unbearably.”

Du Heng hastily asked, ”Didn’t he continue with the examinations?”

”He did. This time, not only were his eyes examined, but his brain was also checked. However, the results were the same as before—no lesions at all.”

Lan Changhua looked at Du Heng with a worried expression, the wrinkles on his face deepening considerably.

Du Heng frowned. ”Professor Lan, you’re a nationally renowned expert in Traditional Chinese Medicine Internal Medicine. Surely you have a way?”

”I’m ashamed. I’ve focused on the Spleen and Stomach for most of my career, and later researched tumors. I don’t know much about eye diseases, so I haven’t been able to reach a correct diagnosis.”

Lan Changhua’s spirits were low. After another sigh, he said, ”However, I did try. ’Vision is related to the liver,’ and ’the essence of the liver pours into the eyes.’ It is also said that the eye’s system connects downwards to the liver and is substantially rooted in the brain. Now, Xiao Cao suffers from eye pain and cannot see. Therefore, I believe his current symptoms are due to insufficient brain qi. The liver qi should respond to this, but because the liver qi is severely deficient and cannot support the brain, it has led to eye pain and blurred vision. I prescribed Xiao Cao medicines like white peony, angelica, Ginseng, fructus juglandis, bupleurum, and radix trichosanthis to nourish the liver and enrich the blood, but they had no effect at all.”

Lan Changhua knew Du Heng’s capabilities, having witnessed them personally. So, he didn’t feel ashamed to lay out all the facts before Du Heng. Moreover, he also hoped Du Heng could take a look and see if Cao Binghe could be cured.

Cao Binghe was only thirty years old this year and was considered his last formal disciple. Seeing Cao Binghe on the verge of going blind, Lan Changhua was extremely anxious.

Du Heng’s mind raced. ”Professor Lan, haven’t you consulted other ophthalmology experts?”

”We have. We’ve seen all of them. All the reputable ophthalmology experts in the Capital, practitioners of both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, have examined him.”

Lan Changhua’s spirits remained low. ”The Western medicine doctors all reached the same conclusion: they couldn’t find the cause. Some Western medicine was tried, but nothing worked. A few old colleagues in traditional Chinese medicine also helped examine him. Their conclusions differed slightly from mine, but overall, they all inferred problems with the brain qi and liver qi. Everyone prescribed medicine targeting these two areas and made adjustments, but ultimately, the effects were poor. Instead, the green tinge on Xiao Cao’s eyeballs has actually worsened considerably.”

After hearing all this, Du Heng pursed his lips.

Experts in both Chinese and Western medicine have seen him, yet none have found a treatment approach. This is definitely a complex and difficult case. So now it’s come to the stage of poring over medical books. If a solution can be found in the books, regardless of whether it leads to a cure, it would at least bring some peace of mind. If nothing is found in the books, Cao Binghe might just end up contributing to medical development by lending his name to a new disease: Cao’s Ocular Affliction. However, given Lan Changhua’s connections, the experts he consulted would have been top-tier. These are genuine specialists. If they couldn’t diagnose the illness on the spot, the likelihood of finding an answer by combing through books is also slim. So, it seems Cao Binghe is indeed destined to make a contribution to medical advancement.

”Professor Lan, is there really no other way?”

”I have an appointment with Sir Shi. I plan to take Xiao Cao with me this afternoon and ask Sir Shi to help take a look.”

Du Heng was slightly taken aback. ”The Sir Shi you mentioned is...?”

”Sir Shi Chengde.”

”You mean the 103-year-old Sir Shi Chengde from the Chinese Medicine Academy Guangmen Hospital?”

”Yes, Sir Shi is an expert in liver diseases. Having him examine Xiao Cao might yield an answer.”