TCM provides healthy choice for rural Bangladesh

In the 1990s, following five years of study, Shahidul Islam, a Bangladeshi doctor, attained his undergraduate bachelor's degree in medicine and surgery from a medical university in Central China's Wuhan.

He also took internship training on acupuncture at the university's traditional Chinese medicine department.

At a popular clinic of Suoxi Healthcare Ltd, which was opened in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, in 2019 under the auspices of a foundation dedicated to charitable activities, Islam now treats people using TCM.

The clinic has won the trust and gratitude of 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, at the clinic, which recently held a free medical camp in a village in central Bangladesh's Madaripur district.

Villager Rizia Begum was happy to receive treatment from the clinic. "I'm 70 years old. I've not seen such treatment before. This is a good treatment. I've been treated well," she says.

Md Delwar Hossain Khan had suffered with back pain for months. According to Khan, after treatment, it subsided. "This Chinese treatment has reduced my pain," he says.

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

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

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

As part of this initiative, he says he went to Panchkhola village of Madaripur district and treated hundreds of patients.

They had no understanding about acupuncture previously, he adds.

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

Islam has many ideas for the development of TCM in Bangladesh, including a plan for establishing an acupuncture association to promote the practice and related technology in Bangladesh.

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

According to Mozammel Haque Khan, president of the China-Bangla Friendship Association, of which Islam is general secretary, the association has been built around various professionals who are committed to providing free healthcare services.

He says that the free medical camp was held in the village in collaboration with a local welfare foundation, which is basically a joint effort between the friendship association and the Shashi Hospital.

"In the future, we will host this type of healthcare camp on a larger scale here and all over Bangladesh," he says.