WUHAN, April 18 (Xinhua) -- After recovering from COVID-19, 95-year-old Xu Ming is now able to cook for himself at home, with the food materials delivered by community workers.
Xu is among a growing number of elderly patients who have recovered from the rampaging infection in Wuhan. But when the retired engineer was first hospitalized with fever, cough and ground-glass opacity in lungs on Feb. 9, his doctor was apprehensive.
"As old and severely ill as he was, it was highly likely that his condition would turn critical," recalled Xu's doctor Zhang Jun with Wuhan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The patient suffered from sudden dyspnea and went into a coma on the next day.
"From the perspective of Western medicine, a large amount of concentrated sodium should be injected. Yet considering Xu's age, such an infusion would cause further electrolyte imbalance, so we resorted to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)," Zhang said.
According to Zhang, TCM can reduce the side effects of drugs and minimize the pain of the elderly during treatment.
Doctors prescribed a tailored TCM remedy for Xu, which aimed to help improve his lung function, lower his body temperature and "dispel the dampness," together with an increase in his oxygen uptake.
"I had one decoction of herbal medicine twice a day, one in the morning and the other in the evening, and the doctor told me not to worry about the fees as the medicines were free of charge," said Xu, whose symptoms were brought under control after taking the therapy for six days.
Xu was clinically cured and discharged from the hospital on Feb. 23 to start a two-week home quarantine.
According to Li Xucheng, chief physician of the emergency department of the Wuhan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a total of 675 COVID-19 patients have been treated in the hospital, with 60 percent of whom aged above 65.
The hospital combined TCM and Western medicine to cure COVID-19 patients. "TCM has been used on all of our patients, and no one in our hospital deteriorated from mild to severe condition," Li said.
"What we pursue is not 100-percent TCM treatment, but the one that benefits our patients," he noted.
Instead of removing the virus, TCM aims to improve people's immunity, said Li, adding that "there is no effective cure. What we do is to support patients' life and repair their immunity so that they can better fight the virus."
Traditionally, TCM advocates tailored prescription for every patient, while three Chinese patent medicines and three TCM prescriptions were broadly used amid the coronavirus epidemic.
"Many patients have similar constitutions and pathogenic causes. Considering that so many patients need prescriptions in such a big epidemic, I don't think treating people with these prescriptions is a problem," said Li, adding that for severe patients who do not fit the ready-made TCM drugs, tailored prescriptions are provided.
A TCM-oriented temporary hospital was also set up in Wuhan's Jiangxia District, where 564 confirmed COVID-19 cases with mild symptoms were treated. None of them turned into severe cases, said Zhang Boli, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
According to Zhang, TCM decoction in combination with other comprehensive treatment means, such as massage, auricular therapy, acupuncture-moxibustion and body exercises of Tai Chi and Baduanjin, was applied to patients in the hospital.
"Considering the WHO figures that some 13 percent of mild cases turn serious around the world, the practices in Jiangxia temporary hospital proved the special effect of TCM in preventing deterioration and improving the self-cure rate," he said.
"Being cured at 95 has been more than enough. I have no special wish other than going out and strolling around without any concern," said Xu. Enditem
