‘Korean clinic’, a combination of traditional healing methods

By Ranil WIJAYAPALA

With the ever growing demand for health facilities in Sri Lanka it is natural to see long queues of patients at any hospital whether it is government or private. And for many of those who seek indigenous and traditional medicine for their illnesses and physical disorders, the National Teaching Hospital of Ayurveda has become a major attraction.

However, for people who visit the National Ayurveda Hospital in Borella, the long queue of patients at the Korean clinic may not be surprising. The Korean clinic has become popular among patients visiting the National Ayurveda hospital due to its reputation among the public.

But one may wonder why people are attending this Korean clinic instead of a large number of other clinics available at the Ayurveda hospital.

Therefore, it is worthwhile to find out what is so special at this Korean clinic for it to become popular.

If someone goes inside this neatly and cleanly maintained small clinic, he or she may find that it is not only a place where Korean oriental medicine is practised but a place where Korean oriental medicine and indigenous and ayurvedic medicine is harmoniously practised to treat patients while enriching the two disciplines of medicine mutually.

Though the clinic is known as the Korean clinic it is mostly Sri Lankan Ayurveda doctors who are there to treat patients as it has become place of transferring knowledge of Korean oriental medicine and acupuncture treatment methods to Sri Lankan Ayurveda physicians.

Dr. Han Gyu-eon, who is in charge of the Korean clinic which was donated to the National Ayurveda Hospital in 2003 by the Korean Government through the Korea International Cooperation Agency, said that half of Korean oriental and acupuncture treatment methods and Sri Lankan Ayurveda treatment methods are similar while there are slight differences in the other half.

“The constitutional medicine which is also known as Sa sang medicine which identifies the physiological characteristics of an individual before treatment is a special characteristic of Korean oriental medicine,” he said.

“Western medicine does not think about constitution. But under Sri Lankan Ayurveda medicine and Korean medicine, patients are categorised constitutionally at the time of diagnosis. Acupuncture treatment is done according to the patients constitution,” he said.

According to constitutional medicine, people are categorised into four groups, Greater Yang, Greater Yin, Lesser Yang and Lesser Yin in consideration of respiratory function, liver or heart function and gastrointestinal function. This is based on the body type of the person. According Dr. Gyu-eon though western medicine is well developed it has its limitations. Western medicine has limitations in treating brain and spinal cord damage and muscular and nerve system damage and they face cancer and pain control difficulties.

“Through our traditional oriental medicine practices we can treat brain cell damage and spinal cord damage and spinal cord system damage can be controlled through acupuncture treatment,” he said.

“There is no hundred percent perfect medicine for treating patients. Each medicine has is merits and demerits. Therefore with a combination of Sri Lankan Ayurvedic medicine and Korean oriental medicine we can have synergy effects,” he said. He said that in future traditional medicine in Asia and Western medicine can combine together and that will be the future medicine in the world.

“We need to discuss it and combine all the medicine systems together to create accurate and the best treatment for patients. That is good for the doctors and also for the patients and that will be the best method of treatment. Step-by-step we started combining the Ayurveda system and the Korean oriental medicine system. Now this combined system is practiced at this Korean clinic at the Ayurveda hospital,” he said.

This Korean clinic functions as a centre to transfer Korean acupuncture treatment methods to Sri Lankan Ayurvedic practitioners and those who are studying Indigenous Medicine at the Institute of Indigenous Medicine in Rajagiriya.

From 2004, six batches of Sri Lankan Ayurvedic doctors were trained in Korean acupuncture medicine and altogether 133 doctors have been trained under this program.

“They all are now working in different parts of Sri Lanka from the North to the South and the East to the West. They are not only trained in acupuncture treatment but also about patient treatment applications which is one of the most important parts in Korean oriental medicine,” Dr. Gyu-eon said.

At the initial stages in 2003 and 2004 Dr. Gyu-eon treated all the patients at the clinic but after 2009 the treatment of 50 percent of patients was undertaken by Ayurvedic doctors.

“Now my aim is to train Ayurvedic doctors to take over this clinic through a step-by-step process. That is my goal. Apart from that we expect to expand our treatment methods to other parts of the country in the future,” he said. Every year, one or two Sri Lankan doctors visit Korea to participate in training programs and sometimes Korean doctors visit Sri Lanka. “By this method both countries are transferring the traditional oriental medicine systems between the two countries and developing it,” he said.

Dr. Wijedasa Wanniarachchi, a Sri Lankan Ayurvedic doctor an expert in the Korean oriental medicine and acupuncture treatment, who acts as the coordinator of the Korean clinic said that acupuncture treatment is not a novel thing in Sri Lanka and there is enough evidence to prove that it has existed in Sri Lanka from ancient times.

“Sri Lanka inherits a rich history of the indigenous medicine system from the era of King Ravana and the acupuncture medicinal system which originated in China and Korea has existed here in Sri Lanka parallel to those developments,” he said.

Countries like China and Korea use acupuncture treatment as their main medicinal system but in Sri Lanka and India acupuncture treatment is not popular. “That is because India and Sri Lanka have enough herbal medicines for treating patients.

But in Korea and China they don’t get enough herbs. That is why they have adopted acupuncture treatment,” he said. According to Dr. Wanniarachchi in Ashtanga Ayurveda,(Shalya thantraya (Surgery), Shakalya (ENT with Opthalmology), Kaya Chikitsa (Medicine/ Therapeutics), Bhoota (Psychiatry), Kaumara (Gynecology Obstetrics and Pediatrics) Agada (Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology, Rasayana (Gerontology), Vajikarana (Science of Aphrodisiac)) these methods have been practised for different ailments. As a doctor trained in the Korean medicinal system in Korea, Dr. Wanniarachchi said that they are practising the Korean oriental medicine as a combination of oriental medicine and western medicine in the same hospital under the same university.

“There is a connection between traditional Chinese Medicine and traditional Korean Medicine. But today the traditional Korean Medicine has been developed to a good medicinal system based on the theories and the techniques unique to Korea. They are accepted across the world and it is being discussed worldwide now”, he said.

According to Dr. Wanniarachchi traditional Korean medicine has been popular in Sri Lanka since 2003 as they conduct this Korean acupuncture treatment clinic making use of the traditional medicinal system which was in use in Sri Lanka in the ancient times combining with improved traditional Korean oriental medicine systems. “The Korean Government donated this clinic through the Korean International Cooperation Agency. They have given this Professor and maintaining this clinic and have trained 50 Ayurvedic doctors. In addition to that the third year and fourth year students of the Indigenous Medicine Institute are also being taught Korean medicine at this Korean clinic,” he said. “We are conducting this clinic five days of the week in the mornings. In the evening we provide treatment only for a few patients and we clean the clinic in the afternoon. We have to keep this place clean because we treat patients by puncturing them and removing blood.

Therefore, we have to keep this place clean for the treatment of patients. We are bound to do that on behalf of the patients. That is why we are confining our activities only to morning hours,” he said.

The clinic treats 150 to 160 patients on a daily basis.

“On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have allocated the clinic for obesity patients while allocating the other three days for the treatment of all other patients”, he said.

The clinic treats muscular vascular disease, disc collapse, shoulder pains, neck pain, lower back pain, osteolysis, multiple back pains, knee pains and knee joint pains.

At the same time the clinic also caters to diabetic patients, people suffering from headaches, sinusitis, arthritis, obesity, urinary problems, gynecological problems such as irregular menses, painful menses, fibroids, sub fertility, skin diseases and also for treatment for post surgery disorders such as after surgery numbness. “We have four Ayurvedic doctors trained in Korean acupuncture treatment, two labourers to serve at the clinic and we have 30 beds in the clinic.

In addition we have laboratory services for blood and cholesterol tests,” Dr. Wanniarachchi said.

“The patients coming here are very fond of this clinic. More than 80 percent of the patients coming here do not need any treatment either internal or external. The people who have internal problems are also suffering mentally. Therefore, we have to treat the patient mentally also. We discuss the history of the patient before diagnosing. We maintain a close relationship with them,” he said.

“We ensure that needles used for acupuncture treatment here are sterilised, disposable ones and they are directly imported from Korea and used only once,” Dr. Wanniarachchi said.

“With the limited space available at the clinic we cannot cater to a large number of patients. But we are ready to expand this service to other parts of the country through our Ayurvedic doctors for the benefit of those who seeks our services,” Dr. Wanniarachchi said.

[‘We can learn from Korean oriental medicine’]

As a part of continued cooperation for the advancement of the oriental medicine practised in Korea and Sri Lanka, Professor Gunapala Amarasinghe of the Institute of Indigenous Medicine of the University of Colombo, who recently visited the Oriental Medicine Hospital, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea and the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejjeon, Korea has been offered membership of the Association of Sasang Constitutional Medicine of Republic of Korea and membership of the Association of Pediatrics in the Academy of Korean Oriental Medicine.

Professor Gunapala Amarasinghe during his visit delivered lectures to postgraduate students at the Oriental Medicine Hospital and participated at the annual sessions of Association of Oriental Pediactrics at the Academy of Korean Oriental Medicine. Professor Gunapala Amarasinghe is the only Professor in Ayurvedic medicine in Sri Lanka who specialises in pediatrics.

Prof. Amarasinghe said that Sri Lanka and Korea can go long way in developing oriental medicine practised in the two countries by learning from each other. At the same time Sri Lankan Ayurvedic physicians and students can learn many things from Korean oriental medicine developed with advanced technology combining with other medicines practised across the globe. “The Korean clinic at the National Ayurveda Teaching Hospital will open its doors for Sri Lankan students to absorb that knowledge,” he said.