Next time you need a doctor, go to China

Dr Henry Martin

Dear Sir Living in a peripheral society as I do we tend to think of ourselves as rather backward and unsophisticated compared to people living in, say, Britain. Therefore it comes as somewhat of a shock to read the absolute twaddle written by Tessa Keswick and published in your supposedly sophisticated magazine. Perhaps someone could explain the concept of referred pain to Ms Keswick. The fact that the pain she feels is in her leg does not mean that it originates there; the chances are that she has pressure on the nerve root in her spine. So sticking needles into that nerve is questionable, and would amount to malpractice if done by a Western doctor. And the idea of “cold air” trapped in nerves and under the skin is alarming, to say the least. The only medical condition I’m aware of that could do this is gas gangrene, a terminal phenomenon. As for keeping new mothers in bed: has she never heard of pulmonary embolism? When Chinese medicine can treat diabetes or meningitis or coronary artery occlusion we Western doctors will certainly sit up and take notice. Until then I’m reminded of the words of the great American philosopher, H Barnum: “there’s one born every minute”. Henry Martin South Africa

Max Kaye

I'm confused: If Tessa Keswick was cured by "the best doctor in the country", then why, upon her return to the UK, is she waiting to see some lousy western-medicine practicing specialist?

Jon Jermey

It's nice that Tessa Keswick has passed on a few hundred of her hard-earned pounds to the impoverished Chinese, even if it was to a rather well-to-do citizen of the People's Republic. But I have no doubt that she could have found equally effective treatment from many English chiropractors and osteopaths. Unfortunately 'alternative medicine' is a little like advertising as described by Lord Leverehulme: only ten percent of it works, but nobody knows which ten percent. Perhaps the 'crackling Chi' (arthritic knuckles?) alone was a sufficient placebo.

Hanif Kanji

Are we talking about the same China I have spent 8 years in consulting on healthcare services in? Tessa Keswick's description of Chinese health services defies belief. Far from being no queues for service, the average Chinese person may have to queue for days in a hospital outpatient department to get a ticket to see a doctor. Services are generally quite appalling and most foreigners arrange medical evacuation when stricken anything serious.

Granted, there are pockets of excellence - far beyond what is available in the West.

Some specialties are further advanced than the West could dream of. Perhaps this has something to do with the lack of oversight on experimentation and lack of adequate peer review when publishing scientific studies (I am partially referring to ethics here).

Your headline advising people to seek care in China borders on the negligent. In fact people should have adequate evacuation insurance when travelling in that beautiful country.