Chinese medicine centre offers new hope to patient...

Chinese medicine centre offers new hope to patients of all ages

**Dr Hu Sha plays with Nokutenda who can now sit up after a few acupuncture sessions**

Zim Now Writer

Nokutenda can now sit up with no support, roll over, grasp toys and play. For any other three year old, this would not be remarkable.

But for Nokutenda’s mother, to see such a change in her daughter who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at one year and three months, it is a real life miracle.

“I brought her here on January 4 for an appointment. And after just a few acupuncture sessions, there is so much change. The Centre is amazing and its doctors are miracle workers. I don’t know how to thank them,” says Nokutenda’s mother.

The China-Zimbabwe Traditional Chinese Medicine Center is located at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in Harare. The TCM Center is the first Chinese medicine clinic in Zimbabwe and the largest Chinese medicine center in Southern Africa.

It offers acupuncture which is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is used to treat diverse physical and mental ailments.

Nokutenda’s mother discovered that her baby had cerebral palsy when Nokutenda turned one year and could not sit by herself, much less crawl or walk.

For the next two years, she poured a lot of love on her daughter, but could not help her. Until she heard of the TCM Centre from a friend and made an appointment. Now in less than a week of acupuncture sessions, Nokutenda is progressing rapidly.

From March to December 2023, the TCM Center attended more than 5,977 patients of different ages. The Centre is already booked up to April 2024.

“As an international volunteer Chinese medicine doctor, the greatest sense of achievement comes from the patients, from the efficacy, from the confidence of Chinese medicine; I was moved by their trust and recognition of TCM acupuncture, and also felt gratified and proud that TCM acupuncture could help the Zimbabwean people to solve their ailments,” said Dr Hu Sha, one of the experts at the centre.

Many of the patients who pass through the centre have passionate brand ambassadors by sharing their experiences.

Mrs. Maphosa had lived with debilitating low back and multiple joint pain for years and accepted that as her normal.

Then she heard of the Centre and thought she would try it. Fast forward and on April 24, 2023, Mrs Maphosa led a group of 12 patients from Bulawayo to the TCM Centre in a group.

Dr. Wang Zhiming (L white coat) and Dr. Hu Sha (R white coat) with patients who traveled from Bulawayo to Harare to access TCM Centre services after hearing great references from those who have been treated there.

Among those who had travelled 442km in search of relief were four prostate cancer patients who had faced difficulties on urinating for a long time.

The TCM Centre integrates medical treatment with training teaching and the Chinese experts transfer skills to locals.

Dr. Hu and Dr. Wang Zhiming were both at the First Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine and Hunan Provincial Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine.

The doctors are members of the 20th China Medical Team in Zimbabwe, which is one of 115 sites in 56 countries around the world that have Chinese international volunteer medical professionals.

https://zimbabwenow.co.zw/articles/3036/china-marks-60-years-of-medical-service-to-the-world

From the date that China dispatched its first medical team to Algeria in 1963, a total of 30,000 medical personnel have treated over 290 million local patients in 76 countries and regions.