Traditional Chinese Medicine Teaching in Lithuania: Problems and Prospects

Abstract

There acts the Association of Physicians of Acupuncture, Manual Therapy and Traditional Medicine in Lithuania, which organizes conferences, raises qualification of physicians in various fields of alternative medicine. Most of them were instructed during the Soviet period in divers courses, as a consistent system of Eastern medicine education is still absent. In habitants of Lithuania practise several methods of Oriental medicine such as yoga, tai-chi, cigun, or meditation technique for preventive reasons, but they are not regulated by the Lithuanian Ministry of Health and are performed by some individuals not members of the health care system. Some patients and enthusiastic physicians take great interest in the possibilities of the Traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, and they would like to learn these disciplines. In 2004, an international conference was organized in Vilnius by the International Council of Medical Acupuncture and related Techniques (ICMART) on relevant problems of Chinese medicine teaching, regulation, legalization, also some collaboration agreements between the Lithuanian university of Health Sciences (LUHS) and Chinese universities were signed. Since 2004, a course of the Traditional Oriental Medicine is delivered for the Medical Faculty students. During this education period, the students are acquainted with principal trends of the traditional Oriental medicine (in China, India, Tibet), the conception of the human being as a microcosmos and his interaction with the environment, the courses of the illnesses, the principles of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases, and possibilities of their integration into the contemporary medicine. [...].