How can traditional Chinese medicine benefit patients in Western countries? This and related topics were discussed during a two-day conference Integrative Health. A New Paradigm for Health Care, devoted to possible synergies between Western and traditional Chinese medicine, held at the Jagiellonian University on 18-19 September 2018.
In his address to the conference participants, the Rector of the Jagiellonian University Prof. Wojciech Nowak referred to the University’s foundation in the 14th century, when medicine was one of the three original faculties. The rector expressed his satisfaction with the fact that today the oldest Polish university provides a platform for the exchange of experiences between the Eastern and Western medical traditions, stressing that, as a physician, he finds the subject of the conference especially important and interesting. The attendees were also welcomed by the Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Health Zbigniew Król.
As stressed by the conference organisers, in recent decades Chinese medicine has gained widespread recognition of both doctors and policymakers in the Western world. Centres of Chinese medicine have been established at universities in many Western countries, including the USA, Sweden, Germany, and Israel. By organising this conference, the Jagiellonian University has been the first in Poland to adopt such an approach.
The main goal of the conference was to discuss different issues from the field of integrative medicine and present a therapeutic approach combining Western medicine with Eastern medical systems, especially the traditional Chinese medicine, whose effectiveness and safety have been scientifically proven. The keynote speakers included Prof, Ka-Kit Hui, the founder and Director of the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine, Prof. Jing Zhao from the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing, and Dr Magdalena Kocot-Kępska from the JU MC Department of Pain Research and Treatment.
The conference was accompanied by tai chi and practical acupressure workshops in the premises of the JU Centre for Chinese Language and Culture "Confucius Institute", which organised the conference together with the JU Medical College.
