photo: tcmworld.com/Dr. Fritz Friedel
Due to the international situation, it is difficult to estimate where the development of TCM will move as an area that can greatly support medical care. The Czechia is a bit specific in its approach to the methods of integrative medicine, or wider shared care, but TCM has survived centuries of dynasties, dictatorships and other regimes in its thousands of years of existence.
Simply because both the type of disease and the diagnosis and the method of treatment have always been in the hands of people - doctors, therapists, herbalists, masseurs, or even chefs. How is TCM doing in Germany today? One of the most famous doctors with knowledge of TCM Dr. Fritz Friedel, who runs the Silima-Klinik in Rosenheim.
Due to the international situation, it is difficult to estimate where the development of TCM will move as an area that can greatly support medical care. The Czechia is a bit specific in its approach to the methods of integrative medicine, or wider shared care, but TCM has survived centuries of dynasties, dictatorships and other regimes in its thousands of years of existence. Simply because both the type of disease and the diagnosis and the method of treatment have always been in the hands of people - doctors, therapists, herbalists, masseurs, or even chefs. How is TCM doing in Germany today? One of the most famous doctors with knowledge of TCM Dr. Fritz Friedel, who runs the Silima-Klinik in Rosenheim.
Is acupuncture or TCM a popular part of the medical care system in Germany?
I can say that acupuncture is very popular, while herbal treatment is not so much. You cannot prescribe herbs effectively and safely without a long and demanding study, and not every doctor is familiar with them.
Is it possible to pay for TCM care from public health insurance?
In our country, ninety percent of clients are insured with one of the health insurance companies, eight percent with private companies. Private insurance companies pay for this care, public only exceptionally.
How many TCM practitioners do you estimate work for?
About a third of our doctors have studied acupuncture, but many of them practice it without a deeper knowledge of TCM theory. The number of truly professionally educated specialist doctors is less than a thousand. Many of those who offer acupuncture are in the Heilpraktiker category, but they are not doctors.
Are there schools, courses, lecture series in Germany that provide accredited education, can TCM methods be studied at a university?
The Chinese study of TCM is not recognized in our country. You must be licensed to work as a doctor in the Federal Republic of Germany, ie to complete your medical studies. However, the graduation of the Chinese University of Western Medicine is accepted! Is it good to promote TCM, to offer these methods to people in Europe? One study confirms that 61% of Germans would certainly prefer a combination of Western medicine and TCM in the event of an illness. Unfortunately, not only politicians but also universities and insurance companies ignore this fact. Is it possible to create a system of shared medicine, using the best of Western and TCM? Our hospital "Klinik Silima" practices this integrative medicine in oncological treatment, for diseases treated in the field of internal medicine, as well as of psychosomatic origin. We are currently reconstructing the hospital, it will be fully opened in 2022. The future belongs to integrative medicine, however, it is necessary to understand both directions and accept different approaches. Unfortunately, the current European approach is far from this, as you can see from the example of the coronavirus epidemic. I am convinced of the future of integrative medicine.
What is your knowledge or experience from your colleagues in other European countries?
The situation is complicated in every European country. So what is your view, do you prefer a combination of acupuncture, TCm, ie herbs, exercise, Western medicine, and even homeopathy? Or do you have your own combinations, or just pure TCM methods? As I answered in one of the previous questions, I am a specialist in herbal treatment. I use my own recipes. Chinese regulations are not entirely transmissible - they tend to be too strong, too expensive, not very adaptable to chronic diseases, which would motivate European patients to look for them. That is why I teach my doctor the concept of treatment, which I have been successfully practicing for forty years. Can you outline your own concept? I teach the concept of "Four Areas", which shows how diseases pass, evolve - from imbalance to catastrophe. One is adapted so that we are a kind of "instrument platform", on which unfavorable or erroneous trends are displayed at an early stage, and are set to the possibilities of timely treatment. These "views" allow you to set combinations of preventive and curative procedures to understand the limitations or limits of a person's condition and health. This way they can be better influenced over time.
Dr.Med. Fritz Friedel He works as a doctor He leads the DECA and TCM-Net platforms, focused on communication for TCM therapists In 2003, he founded the Silima Clinic, combining Chinese and Western medicine in an integrating concept. He collaborates with an interdisciplinary team of doctors and therapists. Dr. Friedl (general practitioner, pioneer of TCM and author) treats patients with various diagnoses and clinical pictures with great success at his clinic. In his work, he translates Chinese thinking into our time and in a way that is understandable to us, as evidenced by his numerous lectures and the book "The Law of Equilibrium - The Recipe for Chinese Medicine for Long Life" (Verlag Gräfe and Unzer Munich, published by Vašut). With more than 20,000 copies sold, the book has become a classic guide to the world of TCM methods and their uses. Author: Jan Hovorka