Having a Passion for Vietnamese Acupuncture

Having a Passion for Vietnamese Acupuncture
2008
by Vuong Mo
Vietnam Pictorial

Everyday, for weeks, Patric Len and Blinda Hischier have gone to the Central Acupuncture Institute to learn acupuncture, and they have become familiar faces to the doctors and nurses. ÏAlthough we love Vietnam and its people, we spend little of our time sightseeing. We spend most of our time studyingÓ, they said.

Patric Len is a reporter with Swiss RadioÌs traffic programme while Belinda Hischier is employed as a chemist in the Swiss capital of Bern. They do different jobs but they love and have the determination to study medicine. Now they are fifth-year students at Heil Praktikerschule Luzern University. Although they have studied at the Central Acupuncture Institute for only a short time they have grasped many acupuncture techniques, including a very special technique which is quite different from those practiced in Switzerland. There the practitioner places a narrow tube on the patientÌs skin and inserts the needle through it. In Vietnam, the doctor senses the correct location for the insertion with his fingers and applies the needle deeper.

The lectures on traditional and modern medicines are very useful to Patric and Belinda ÏWe trust in the doctorsÌ professional skills and admire their enthusiastic instructions on how to handle the needles and make a shallow or deep or tilted insertion÷ In Switzerland, only needles are used while in Vietnam the doctor uses electrical acupuncture (using a machine to transmit electricity to the needle to stimulate the nerves). The needle is dozens of centimetres long but it causes no pain to the patientÓ, Belinda said. The long needle is more effective than the short one. While learning acupuncture at the Central Acupuncture Institute, they also study pathological theories thoroughly and better understand more diseases, such as facial paralysis, limb tremble, nerve Ronal, etc. In Switzerland, children are not subjected to acupuncture and the treatment is not used for treating these diseases.

Patric and Belinda are among many doctors and medical students who come from many countries to learn acupuncture at the Institute. MA Tran Phuong Dong at the international treatment department said that in 2007 alone, there were 19 foreigners learning acupuncture at the department. Many of them were doctors and acupuncture practitioners from Spain, Switzerland, Germany, France, Australia, India and Japan. Normally, each training course lasts about three months. Some people learn for one year. According to DongÌs assessment, foreign students are diligent and learn theories well, but they are confused in diagnoses due to having little experience. After learning acupuncture in Vietnam, many students said that if someone wants to become a good acupuncturist, he/she should come to Vietnam.

Belinda said: ÏAlthough I came to Vietnam twice and visited many scenic spots in different places in the country, Vietnam is still an unknown. In the future if I have time I will return to Vietnam several times to conquer this beautiful countryÓ.