PROVEN EFFECTIVENESS
When Mohammad Dawood, a graphic designer in Kuwait City, the capital of Kuwait, was infected with the coronavirus, he suffered from symptoms like dry cough and fever.
"A friend of mine suggested me with the Chinese medicine and it had a great effect in relieving symptoms and reducing the temperature," he told Xinhua.
After an expert meeting convened by the WHO on evaluation of TCM's effectiveness in the COVID-19 treatment, a meeting report was published in March, noting, "There are promising data to suggest that TCM is beneficial in reducing the risk of progression from mild-to-moderate cases to severe COVID-19."
"For mild-to-moderate cases, there is encouraging evidence that the studied TCMs, when administered as add-on interventions to conventional treatment, may shorten the time for viral clearance, resolution of clinical symptoms and length of hospital stay when compared to conventional treatment alone," the report added.
In Britain, with health systems based on Western medicine, the TCM has also gained increasing popularity. Chen Zanyu, president of the Federation of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners, said he and his colleagues have become much busier especially since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.
COVID-19 once caused palpitations to Charles Bell, a British patient in southeast London, and it was like 10 or 15 seconds twice a day. "The herbs calm that down and help that," he said. "And the herbs, they just made me feel more balanced and better able to function."
Chen told Xinhua that they have treated thousands of COVID-19 patients in Britain. "In fact, probably none of the herbs can deliberately kill or eliminate the virus itself," he said. "But the good thing about Chinese approaches is we try to readjust the body's immune system or the balance of energy or balance of five elements (of water, wood, fire, earth or metal) or yin and yang."
It was like if someone wants to get rid of weeds, he could target the weeds, but also the soil where weeds grow, Chen explained with an analogy. "So that is the Chinese wisdom we have put in practice for thousands of years."
Chinese medical team members hold a meeting with their Kuwaiti counterparts in Mubarak Al-Kabeer Governorate, Kuwait, on April 29, 2020. (Xinhua)
