A HOSPITAL FULLY DEDICATED TO TCM IN EUROPE?
Among the famous Bavarian forests in Germany, there is a famous spa town: Bad Kötzting. On a yellow wall and red tiled building next to the main street in the city, the sign of “Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Bad Kötzting Hospital, Germany’s first Chinese medicine hospital” is particularly eye-catching; the seal inscription “Shou” engraved on the door shows a heavy Chinese tradition Culture expresses the concept of traditional Chinese medicine for health preservation and rehabilitation.The hospital was established in 1991 with the cooperation of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and the German Staudinger Group. It is still the only Chinese hospital in Germany that accepts payment by insurance companies (public and private), mainly Chinese medicine treatment, and accepts inpatients. In 2018 and 2019, it successfully applied for the “Overseas Chinese Medicine Center” project of China’s national international cooperation in traditional Chinese medicine, and became a “China-German Chinese Medicine Center (Kötzting)” integrating medical treatment, teaching, scientific research and cultural broadcasting. Project construction unit. The hospital consists of an inpatient department and an inquiry department.In the Long Stay Hospital and then in the other Hospital, for day care, LHCH had the chance to interview the Chinese Doctor, Dai Jingzhang, the owner of the Center, Mr Staudinger and Mr Dany Bosteels, CEO of the Euro China Business & Tourism Summit Committee .
PART 1: Doctor Dai
LHCH: What has been your scientific and technical experience for 20 years here in Europe ?
Doctor Dai: That of a « missionary spirit » for the belief in TCM, I would say. Every day, giving the best of myself to use Chinese medicine to treat patients and achieve curative effects and to make my patients understood the beneficial virtues of the most authentic TCM that I had studied and practiced for a long time in China. It is an honor for me to pass on the treasures of millennial China, of course.
LHCH: Who are your patients?
Doctor Dai: There are a lot of Germans, from all over the country, mostly women aged 50 to 70 or older. Also patients from Holland, for example, who have insurance policies that collaborate with ours.
LHCH: Why coming so far?
Doctor Dai: For the purity of our approach. Because they have been disappointed with Western Medicine long time treatments without any effect. They have long medical histories ; very complex histories with multiple diseases problems. They took many kinds of medication. They endured so many opérations…
LHCH: For what types of diseases do these people in distress travel?
Doctor Dai: First of all, we have to say that European patients arrive here in a worse condition than our Chinese patients who follow a healthier lifestyle, in general. But there are different types of problems. Chronic and unbearable pain, without improvement even with strong drugs; diseases of the Internal Medicine and other Various diseases, such as digestive system which we call related to “viscera and bowels”; and, mainly, psychosomatic illnesses linked to stress and depression.
LHCH: What treatments do you offer, more precisely in your Hospital ?Doctor Dai: In our Hospital for stays of 3 to 5 weeks, we prepare all day infusions of some 200 plants in our pharmacopoeia. Our nurses, both Chinese and German, collaborate wonderfully. We have two Chinese herbalists, in particular. There are Qigong sessions every day in the open air, in our Hospital’s garden. And depending on the case, acupuncture sessions. Of course, to determine the condition and evolution of the patient’s condition, we do the very comprehensive “Zhen mai” or “Ba mai” diagnosis every day: observation of the tongue; palpating the pulse, listening to the voice, smelling odors, etc.But we also have the Outpatient department dedicated to external patients who want one-hour sessions, without a stay. There, the treatments are more targeted “in the short term”.
LHCH: What is the “scientific” recognition of your results in Bavaria? We are not talking about the good results for the patients themselves since your Hospital are full, all year round!
Doctor Dai: We cooperate with the Technical University of Munich and Deggendorf Institute of Technology to which we send our results every year (results also accessible to the public through a book, by the way). It’s a very fruitful collaboration, but it took 30 years to build and consolidate it. Even if it is difficult to prove itself in Europe, we believe here that we are making the gift, the gift of medicinal wisdom which can only help humanity evolve in the years to come. And this, as much in Asia as in Europe!
PART 2: Mr Staudinger
LHCH: How did this German-Chinese adventure, which is unique in Europe, begin?
Mr Staudinger: My father built everything! Patiently forging links with the authorities and personalities, academics and politicians, of our Länder (province). He also has established strong links with Chinese scientists and doctors. It was he who was the linchpin of this completely unprecedented merger in the 90s. Since then, despite all the obstacles of such an original company, our two Hospitals have enjoyed legendary efficiency in Europe and beyond. I can safely assure that our customers always leave with a smile !
LHCH: Do you have any anecdotes about the difficulties of such a company in the heart of Europe, Europe which has its strict rules at all levels?
Mr Staudinger: Oh, all the complicated stories about getting visas from Chinese doctors; then obtain their work permit; the interminable and difficult passages through our very strict customs of all the Chinese plants of the TCM; finally, to communicate laboriously with German, but also European insurance companies to calculate the best reimbursement (refunding) conditions for our customers; but also for social security, since some Länder have understood their economic interests in the way we prevent illnesses and therefore reduce their costs.
LHCH: What do you think is the strength of your two Hospitals ?
Mr Staudinger: We mainly work with people who have been seriously trained in Chinese universities. Our German staff are trained and guided by these highly qualified doctors. There are so many doctors here in Germany, a real small business, who have gone through three weeks of training and claim to be specialists in TCM. Here, our treatments are efficient and practiced safely.
LHCH: You also have real healthier lifestyle programs. Always to prevent our diseases of civilizations?
Mr Staudinger: Yes, we participate in IGM® Lifestyle programs which focus on nutrition, stress management and exercise. Our body has the capacity for self-healing embedded in these cells. You just have to respect it and support it. We must work upstream of diseases. Why do we only go to the doctor when things are bad?
LHCH: Thank you very much for your welcome.
Mr Staudinger: My pleasure. We also welcome journalists from France, Korea or Canada. Our reputation has become international. We operate in full transparency. Don’t forget to check out our book which chronicles our levels of success for diseases that most people think are incurable.
PART 3: Mr Dany Bosteels
LHCH: Coming from Belgium because you were intrigued by this unique place in Europe, dedicated entirely to TCM, what impressed you the most?Mr Dany Bosteels: After touring the buildings and facilities, I was impressed by the technology, both modern and traditional, and the comfort. A soothing place entirely dedicated to health and well-being. I felt I was reaching the highest level of what Chinese culture can give us Europeans.
LHCH: Do you personally believe in the health benefits of TCM?
Mr Dany Bosteels: I know the pharmaceutical sector thanks to my knowledge of chemistry, in particular. And precisely, TCM is unlike our drugs, completely natural. There are no side effects. Treatments are easy and inexpensive. In addition, the traditional Chinese doctor treats the person as a person, as a whole, and not as a body, an object over which he has all the powers. It is a question of benevolence to others. Of heart. We want the person to be healthy and to preserve it. As much in his body as in his mind. One does not go without the other.
LHCH: A “holistic” conception of the human?
Mr Dany Bosteels: Yes, which makes sense at a time when current problems are also “global”. Look at COVID-19 which is linked to the problems of globalization and our just-in-time economy. It is hospitals like this that have saved lives in Wuhan in the midst of the epidemic. The Chinese government has understood this. He aims for the health of his people and therefore supports the TCM, I think even in Europe. Moreover, the future will be in a collaboration between our Western medicine, which is very powerful in terms of diagnostic technologies, and traditional Chinese medicine which thinks of the body in its energy unit.
LHCH: You are a dynamic entrepreneur but also an engineer at heart. Does this Center here in Germany inspire you?
Mr Dany Bosteels: Yes, this confirms my desire to participate in the development of the spirit of TCM in Europe, and more precisely, in Belgium, which will celebrate 50 years of its diplomatic relations with China! An opportunity to put things in place for more cooperation between the two countries. We still have so much to learn from Chinese culture. Today more than ever.
