“Health Care, East and West, Moving into the 21st Century” – the largest ever academic medical exchange between China and the United States – ended in June with a hope by all participants that the event would mark a beginning of more such exchanges and cooperation, according to Dr. Cao Zeyi, 68, a professor in gynaecology and obstetrics and vice president of the Chinese Medical Association.
Besides Dr. Cao, others from China of the some 1,000 health care leaders from China and the U.S. who attended the June 24-29 meeting at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts included Dr. Wu Jieping, China’s most prominent doctor; ten presidents of Chinese medical colleges, universities and academies; and other prominent institutional leaders. The Chinese Ambassador to the United States Yang Jiechi and the Chinese Ministry of Health Zhang Wenkang attended the meeting.
“Both sides showed great interest in knowing more about each other,” said Dr. Cao Zeyi who spoke at the conference on a panel discussing ‘Cultural Differences in Disease Patterns and Perspectives on Each Country's Health Care” with Shao Ruitai from China’s Ministry of Health in Beijing and Professor Nelson Kiang from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.
“For instance, China emphasizes prevention while in the United States priority is given to clinical diagnosis and treatment,” said Dr. Cao. “We can learn a lot from each other, and I hope that more non-governmental relations will be established between China and the United States through the Chinese Medical Association so as to remove misunderstanding and enhance cooperation.”
The Chinese Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics, of which Dr. Cao is president, will be among the first organizations to follow-up on the precedent-setting event at Harvard by hosting an international gynecologist’s meeting in Beijing in late 2002 and early 2003.
Dr. Cao was deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Medical Association five years ago when he helped come up with the idea to establish a major conference between Chinese and American health care leaders. Noting that many of China’s medical experts have benefited from study in the U.S., he said he also thought it was just as important that the U.S gain a better understanding of Chinese medicine and the Chinese medical system. His idea won support from the Chinese Ministry of Health and Harvard Medical International as well as financial support from Johnson & Johnson, a major U.S. medical supply company.
Dr. Miles Shore, conference vice chairman and senior education consultant with Harvard Medical International, expressed the views for many of his colleagues in the United States when he said at the conference: “This is an opportunity for US and Chinese physicians to compare the pros and cons of their respective health delivery systems and begin to consider common solutions to shared problems.”
The conference dedicated seven half days to general sessions. The equal number of Chinese and American delegates addressed these sessions, approaching the difference of the two countries in their health care educational, personnel and administrative systems and the similar changes they face in terms of AIDs control, drug addiction, emergency medical care, increasingly aging population, the threat of unhealthy environments, and the training of medical professionals.
Three afternoons and evenings were dedicated to work group sessions on topics such as anesthesiology and pain control, dental medicine, nursing, primary care/family medicine, and women’s health.
(China.org.cn by Chen Qiuping 08/10/2001)
