After graduation
Nyiam Li Yi, a 29-year-old Malaysian who is reading for a doctorate in medicine at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, has been studying TCM in China for 10 years. Her academic focus is on the theoretical framework of TCM classics.
Most of Nyiam's classmates are looking to find jobs in either TCM clinical practice or TCM education.
"Most would want to start up their own clinics, health centers and Internet-based services such as websites," Nyiam said.
According to her, compared with learners from the West, the majority of the international TCM students and researchers in China are from Asian countries, especially South Korea and Malaysia, where TCM is comparatively more prevalent.
Many TCM students would return to their home country, but Nyiam hopes to stay in China and work as a TCM doctor after graduation.
However, according to Boubacar, foreign TCM students in China are faced with an especially challenging situation after graduation, regardless of whether they stay in the country or not.
Most of them are not able to have their own TCM clinics where they can use both internal and external treatment methods. They can do acupuncture, moxibustion and cupping, but not herbal remedies.
"The fact is that 99 percent [of the foreign TCM majors] I know are only doing acupuncture," he said.
One of the reasons is that they are not educated or experienced enough to use herbal remedies well. Another is that, compared with acupuncture, people hold a rather skeptical attitude toward TCM remedies that are ingested.
It's also very difficult for foreigners to get opportunities to really see patients and practice TCM in China, at least not independently, according to Boubacar.
To get recognized, Boubacar advises foreign TCM students and practitioners in China to invest more time and energy in learning TCM. Study it in Chinese and take more well-known older Chinese doctors as teachers, he said.
Ambassadors of Chinese medicine
In October 2015, Chinese medical scientist Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize for her discovery of artemisinin, an antimalarial drug that she extracted using a herb used in TCM. Her work has inspired many TCM practitioners and students, including foreign ones like Nyiam.
"When I can relieve my patients' pain with what I have learned, I feel very proud and confident," Nyiam said.
"I believe that the future of TCM is not only in China but also overseas."
Vukan agreed. As the founder of Wushan TCM, a network that connects TCM practitioners and students by offering online courses from China, he stressed that there's a growing interest in TCM overseas, and more people would like to take TCM as their major.
He said people in the West are often open-minded to "alternative medicine," including TCM, and some of the treatments are covered by insurance in many countries. As a matter of fact, data from the World Health Organization shows that 103 countries have approved the practice of acupuncture, 18 of which offer insurance coverage for the procedure.
Also, there are more than 40,000 registered acupuncturists in the US, 50,000 in Germany and 15,000 in Spain, according to an article in Guiding Journal of TCM in June.
"In many cases, Western medicine can't cure a patient who is depressed, overworked, fatigued, exhausted, or has poor appetite or poor sleep," he said.
"Chinese medicine puts a strong focus on syndrome differentiation, which doesn't exist in Western medicine.
Therefore, the combination of both Western and Chinese medicine is a good solution when it comes to treating modern disease with classical or ancient methods, he said.
Still a few hurdles left
While TCM awareness and acceptance has grown considerably outside of China in recent years, it is still hampered by a few niggling issues.
One such problem is that there are many cases of low-standard TCM treatment on the market, which erodes people's trust in TCM.
According to Boubacar, there are a lot of TCM practitioners who are not fully qualified; some do not have full certification for the services they offer, and others have none at all.
"If they could help the patients, it's all good. But if they can't, it then leads people to say that it's because TCM doesn't work," he said.
He said TCM practitioners shouldn't just be motivated by the growth of the industry but really focus on academic development and making contributions to the health of society.
Besides seeing patients in Chengdu, Boubacar also runs a social welfare program. The program aims to improve primary healthcare in Yunnan Province's rural region by training village doctors there.
According to Boubacar, the village doctors are the backbone of China's medical system.
"[We should] teach them some simple but very effective methods so that they can better serve the local folks," he said.
"The roots of TCM are in China. TCM will be recognized internationally only if it is rejuvenated within China. It can't be the other way around."
