People's Daily: promote the development of ethnic medicine inheritance, innovation and application

19-01-11 People's Daily

The medicine of ethnic minorities is an important part of China's medical and health undertakings. Minority medicine should be passed on from generation to generation to enhance human health.

At the 13th regular session of the intergovernmental committee for the protection of intangible cultural heritage held recently, "Tibetan medicine bath law -- Chinese Tibetan knowledge and practice on life, health and disease prevention" declared by China was included in the representative list of UNESCO intangible cultural heritage for humanity.

Tibetan medicine bath method, known in Tibetan as "long mu", mainly through bathing in natural hot springs or medicine boiled water or steam, adjust the balance of body and mind, to achieve the purpose of disease prevention. One is the "five kinds of hot spring" bath method based on minerals, and the other is the "five kinds of sweet dew" bath method based on five kinds of plant medicinal materials.

Tibetan medicine is a shining pearl in the treasure house of Chinese medicine. The successful application of Tibetan bath to the world heritage list has enabled more people to focus on the medicine of ethnic minorities. China has a large number of ethnic minorities, forming a variety of ethnic medicine. This is the crystallization of the practice and wisdom of the people of all ethnic groups.

In recent years, great progress has been made in the inheritance and development of minority medicine. Of the 55 ethnic minorities in China, 35 have discovered and sorted out their own medical materials. A total of 15 ethnic groups, including tibetans, mongolians and uighurs, have set up hospitals for their own medicine. The 2017 edition of the national list of insured drugs added 43 medicines for ethnic minorities. The state administration of traditional Chinese medicine, the state civil affairs commission and other 13 departments jointly issued several opinions on strengthening the work of minority medicine in the new era, ushering in a new phase in the development of minority medicine.

At present, the primary problem for the development of minority medicine is the shortage of talents. Some minority medicine is mainly oral, emphasizing the accumulation of individual experience and experiential learning. At present, affected by factors such as the aging of inheritors, the sharp decrease in the number of potential inheritors, and the low education degree of inheritors, the inheritance of minority medicine is greatly limited, and the already rare talents are on the verge of serious fault crisis. Taking the she nationality as an example, there is a lack of written records about she medicine, and the only remaining she medical literature is only preserved in the form of pictures or Chinese phonetic symbols, with few medical instruments left, which increases the difficulty of inheritance. At the same time, minority doctors are faced with the difficult problem of professional qualification and professional title promotion. Some people are ancestral family, no medical education, unable to assess the professional and technical titles, and older, to participate in the practice of physicians have expertise assessment is difficult.

In addition, the loss of resources makes minority medicine "rare". Good prescriptions require genuine medicines to work, but many species are endangered. Take li medicine as an example, some unique medicinal materials in the secret recipe are increasingly rare, if not well protected, the medicinal materials become extinct, even if there is a good secret recipe also does not mean anything. Therefore, the rescue of endangered minority medicine, is a race against time, without delay.

In addition to the Tibetan medicine bath law being included in the list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity, some medicines of ethnic minorities in China are included in the national intangible cultural heritage list. In order to avoid the disappearance of minority medicine, it is urgent for relevant departments to strengthen support and protection and establish a sound policy guarantee mechanism. The law on traditional Chinese medicine stipulates that more support should be given to the inheritance, innovation, application and development of the medicine of ethnic minorities, as well as personnel training, strengthening the construction of medical institutions and doctors of ethnic minorities, and promoting and standardizing the development of the medicine of ethnic minorities. Only when the law on traditional Chinese medicine is implemented can the medicine of ethnic minorities benefit more people.

The medicine of ethnic minorities is an important part of China's medical and health undertakings. Minority medicine should be passed on from generation to generation to enhance human health.