Feature: Traditional Chinese medicine reaches Bangladesh countryside with do-gooders

DHAKA, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Shahidul Islam, a Bangladeshi doctor, got an undergraduate degree of bachelor of medicine and surgery at a medical university in central China's Wuhan after five years of study in the 1990s.

Also, he took an internship training on acupuncture in the university's traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) department.

Islam is now engaged in treating people with TCM through a popular clinic of Suoxi Healthcare Limited which was opened in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, in 2019 under a foundation dedicated for charitable activities.

The clinic has won trust and gratitude from many patients.

Trained local medical staff, including professionals who returned with hands-on experience from study in China, provide patients with various TCM treatments, such as acupuncture and Chinese therapeutic massage in the clinic, which recently held a free medical camp in a village in central Bangladesh's Madaripur district.

Villager Rizia Begum is very happy to receive treatment from the clinic. "I'm seventy years old. I've not seen such treatment before. This is a very good treatment. I've been treated well," she told Xinhua.

Md Delwar Hossain Khan said he had a back pain for months. After treatment it subsided, he said. "This Chinese treatment has reduced my pain," said Khan.

Rahima Khatun, deputy commissioner of Madaripur district, said it was the first time that TCM reached the district.

"Common people of Madaripur are receiving this treatment. I believe that through this treatment our helpless common people who are suffering from various diseases will get some relief. I hope they live a healthy life," she said.

Islam said he has been involved in acupuncture treatment since 1996. "I had a wish to spread Chinese traditional medicine with acupuncture to remote areas of Bangladesh."

As part of this initiative, he said he went to Panchkhola village of Madaripur district and hundreds of patients received acupuncture treatment.

They had no understanding about acupuncture previously, said Islam.

"Some people have given us feedback that they feel much better after the treatment. My future plan for acupuncture is to spread acupuncture in more remote areas and big cities of Bangladesh by doing free medical camps," he said.

Islam said he has many ideas for the development of traditional Chinese medicine in Bangladesh, including a plan for establishing an acupuncture association in order to promote acupuncture practice and technology in Bangladesh.

He believes it is necessary to provide TCM healthcare services in the South Asian country's rural areas.

Mozammel Haque Khan, president of the China Bangla Friendship Association, said, "Our doctor Shahidul Islam is general secretary of the association."

"We've built the association with various professionals who are committed to providing free health services," said Khan.

He said the free medical camp was held in the village in collaboration with local Wazed Quddus Welfare Foundation which is basically a joint effort of the China Bangla Friendship Association and the Shashi Hospital.

"In the future we will do this type of health camp on a larger scale here and all over Bangladesh," he said, anticipating more opportunity for harmony between the China and Bangladesh.