Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 62: Imperial Medical College, Ulcers and Surgery [Seeking Follow-up Reading]

Liu Kuan saluted Zhu Biao in the courtyard, exchanged a few words of greeting, and then led him to his "office".

Zhu Biao looked around the room before sitting down and said, "Your arrangement here is quite unique."

There was no one else in the room, and Zhu Biao's guards were guarding outside, so Liu Kuan spoke more freely.

He laughed and said, "It's just based on the customs of later generations. Unfortunately, these tables, chairs, cabinets, etc. are quite different from those of later generations. They look a bit out of place."

Zhu Biao said, "If you miss the furniture of later generations, you can ask a carpenter to make some."

Liu Kuan shook his head. "Many furniture in later generations is not made entirely of wood. If we force a carpenter today to make one, I'm afraid it won't be as pleasing to the eye as what we have here."

"It's not wood? Then what is it made of?" Zhu Biao was curious.

Liu Kuan said: "There are various metals, plastics, plywood and various synthetic materials."

"But at that time, purely handmade wooden furniture was actually more expensive, and furniture made of fine wood was a luxury that ordinary people couldn't afford."

Zhu Biao tried to imagine it, but found that he could not imagine the scene described by Liu Kuan at all. He could only sigh and say, "It seems that the scenery in the future is really very different from that of this time, even a world of difference."

Liu Kuan didn't want Zhu Biao to ask about future events - if he did, the two of them might not be able to finish talking even if they continued until dark or dawn.

He asked, "What business has your Highness brought you to see me?"

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "The Imperial Medical College has been established. I would like to invite you to take a look."

"So fast?" Liu Kuan was surprised.

"The venue and buildings are all ready-made, and we've only had some minor modifications and renovations done. Plus, the famous doctors that my father recruited have already arrived, so this medical school will naturally become a success."

"However, the Ming Dynasty has never had a medical school. I don't know if I am doing the right thing. I have only created a prototype, so I would like to ask for your guidance."

Liu Kuan understood what he heard, but he said, "In fact, I have never been to a medical school in my later life. I just heard some things from hearsay."

Zhu Biao said, "That's better than me being clueless."

Liu Kuan was indeed quite interested in the first medical school in the Ming Dynasty. When Zhu Biao mentioned this, he stood up and bowed, "Then I will go with Your Highness to take a look."

"Haha, okay, let's go now."

It was time to leave his post, so Liu Kuan left the Ministry of Works compound with Zhu Biao, and asked his servant Xiaohu to go back home and deliver a message saying that he would not be going back for dinner.

It was only after Liu Kuan had been on the job for a few days that he realized that just one groom was not enough.

If he couldn't go home for something, or if he needed to do something, he couldn't ask the soldiers of the Yiluansi to run errands for him, right? This wasn't the end of the Ming Dynasty, where officials could use soldiers as servants.

So, he later took an extra servant with him when he went out.

Zhu Biao and Liu Kuan both rode on horseback and talked about the situation of the Imperial Medical College on the way.

"According to my father's custom, the Medical College is also a government office and should be placed south of the palace, together with the other government offices, preferably next to the Imperial Hospital."

"But then we considered that the medical school you mentioned also has the function of curing illnesses and saving lives. My father and I also hope that the famous doctors of the medical school can benefit the people of the capital, so we placed it on Liren Street."

Liren Street is just west of Taiping Street, and Liu Kuan knows it.

It was similar to Taiping Street, and most of the people living there were high-ranking officials, or at least descendants of officials, landlords, and wealthy businessmen.

But after all, it is a place that ordinary people dare to go and can go to.

If it were placed in the government office area south of the palace, ordinary people would probably not dare to go there - in fact, it was indeed a forbidden area for ordinary people.

Soon, we arrived at the place.

Liu Kuan looked over from his horse and saw that it was a courtyard of considerable size.

Outside the gate of the hospital stands a stone archway with five large red characters carved on it - Imperial Medical College!

There are two stone tablets next to the gate archway.

A letter from a monk reads: As a doctor, one must completely abandon the pursuit of fame and fortune, and focus on providing relief. - Zhang Gao, Song Dynasty.

Another one reads: The Way of Heaven values ​​the Way of Medicine, and the Way of Medicine requires the Way of Benevolence; a skilled doctor values ​​the Way, and a benevolent heart benefits the world - Anonymous.

Zhu Biao explained, "This was originally the villa of a famous official in Jinling during the Southern Song Dynasty. During the previous dynasty, it was occupied by the prominent Hu Yuan."

"In this dynasty, my father also wanted to give it to a noble, but because it was too large and needed repairs, it has been left untouched until now."

Seeing the ancient trees inside, towering like canopies and the buildings covered by eaves, Liu Kuan couldn't help but nod and said, "It does look like a good place to set up a medical school."

Then Liu Kuan followed Zhu Biao inside to take a look.

It's a typical Southern Song Dynasty garden-style building complex, not much to say.

Liu Kuan's main focus was on the various institutions within the medical school and their operational models. He had already discussed this with Zhu Biao when he was a guest at the Eastern Palace.

Therefore, although the establishment of various institutions of the Imperial Medical College drew on later generations, it still has the characteristics of Ming Dynasty medical institutions.

For example, the affiliated hospital of the medical school has eleven main departments, namely: internal medicine, pediatrics, gynecology, orthopedics, ophthalmology, dentistry, pharyngology, acupuncture, typhoid fever, sores and ulcers, and smallpox diagnosis.

Some of them are the same as hospitals in later generations, but some are different.

Because the affiliated hospital can only employ doctors from the Ming Dynasty at present, and even for a long time in the future it will train traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, it would be inappropriate to hastily adopt all the specialties of later generations.

It would be better to allow traditional Chinese medicine to develop in a scientific way and gradually evolve into something similar to modern medicine.

The division of teaching subjects in medical schools is similar.

However, the academic system is closer to that of later generations - students of the Imperial Medical College must first study book knowledge for five years and pass the examination before they can intern in affiliated hospitals.

After two to three years of internship, students can officially graduate only after obtaining the approval of their supervisor.

As for those who are unable to obtain the approval of their supervisor, they will be given an opportunity to choose a new supervisor. If they still cannot obtain approval after three years, they can only obtain a certificate of incomplete studies.

In addition, the doctor ranks of the affiliated hospitals were connected to the Imperial Medical Service system that had basically taken shape in the Ming Dynasty.

It is mainly divided into six levels, namely: doctor, medical assistant, physician, chief physician, imperial physician, and imperial physician.

Medical students study for five years and then pass the exam to become doctors.

After completing internship, obtaining the approval of a mentor (at least a chief physician), and graduating from medical school, one becomes a medical associate.

Other institutions of the medical school were also established largely based on later models, but they were all very small in scale, and their hardware facilities were relatively simple or even non-existent.

The same is true for affiliated hospitals.

Each department has at least one yard serving as a ward, with at least five or six beds and as many as twenty or thirty beds.

In addition, there are outpatient clinics, pharmacies, canteens and other departments.

After the tour, Zhu Biao introduced five famous doctors who had already joined the medical school to Liu Kuan.

According to his understanding, Liu Kuan divided the five people into one provincial-level famous doctor and four prefectural-level famous doctors.

Afterwards, Zhu Biao took Liu Kuan to have dinner in a pavilion next to the medical school cafeteria.

Five famous doctors also accompanied him.

When they were almost full, Liu Kuan couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, why hasn't the surgery department I mentioned earlier been established?"

Before Zhu Biao could reply, a renowned doctor named Liu Gan from Ningguo Mansion could not help but speak up, "The Crown Prince has already mentioned the surgical department mentioned by Vice-President Liu. It's no different from the sore and ulcer department. There's absolutely no need to establish this department."

When Liu Kuan was discussing the medical school matters with Zhu Biao in the Eastern Palace, he learned about the specific fields represented by the eleven medical disciplines at that time.

Among them, doctors who are good at treating sores and ulcers are also called ulcer doctors, and their origin can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty.

It is mainly used to treat carbuncle, ulcer, sore, ulcer, scabies, ringworm, fracture and other diseases on the body surface that require surgical removal.

It does not involve internal diseases of the internal organs.

The few famous doctors in history who dared to operate on patients' bodies were not ulcer doctors.

From this we can see that there is a big difference between ulcer medicine and later surgery, and it can even be said that there is a difference in medical cognition and treatment concepts.

Therefore, in Liu Kuan's opinion, if surgery was not established, the Department of Ulcers and Ulcers would hardly develop into the surgery of later generations.

So, after hearing Liu Gan's words, Liu Kuan frowned and said, "How much do you know about surgery, Doctor Liu? How dare you say that there is no difference between ulcer department and surgery?"

As a famous doctor in Ningguo Prefecture, Liu Gan was treated like a Bodhisattva wherever he went to see patients.

Although he knew that Liu Kuan was a fifth-rank official and seemed to be highly trusted by the Crown Prince, he still couldn't help but retort, "Even if I don't understand surgery, I'm still a famous doctor in the prefecture. What about Deputy Doctor Liu? How much do you know about medicine, and what have you achieved?"

Upon hearing this, the other doctors either ate their food as if it had nothing to do with them, or looked like they were watching a show.

Obviously, Liu Gan was not the only one who was unhappy when he saw Liu Kuan following Zhu Biao to "guide" all aspects of the medical school's affairs.

Zhu Biao hadn't expected a famous doctor to start an argument with Liu Kuan. Just as he was about to mediate, Liu Kuan said, "I don't know any medical skills, but I have the knowledge to cure stubborn diseases and even benefit the world. Does Doctor Liu have any?"

Liu Gan was probably not expecting Liu Kuan to say that. He was stunned for a moment, then sneered, "Sir, are you really not afraid of getting your tongue blown away by the wind? You still have the knowledge to cure stubborn diseases and benefit the world?"

"It just so happens that Dr. Li, the famous Jiangxi doctor, is here. Why don't you tell us about your experience so that we can see it too!"

When talking about the last two "insights", Liu Gan deliberately emphasized his tone, making it clear that he wanted to make fun of Liu Kuan - he didn't believe that a young official in his twenties could have any great insights in medicine.

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(End of this chapter)