Treatment and Rehabilitation after COVID-19 with Traditional Chinese Medicine in China and Russia (Medical Anthropologist’s Perspective)

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2023-4/236-251

Abstract

Based on the author's field materials and academic anthropological and medical literature, the article analyzes the specifics of treatment and rehabilitation after COVID-19 using Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) methods, discusses informants' experiences of side effects from the coronavirus and methods of their elimination using TCM, and the cultural components of these processes in China and Russia. The Chinese health care system officially practices a combination of TCM and biomedicine, in particular, such a synergy was applied in treatment and rehabilitation after COVID-19. During the rehabilitation period after coronavirus, a combination of the two medical systems was also used to maximize the therapeutic effect. There is a significant demand for TCM in Russian society as people seek alternative to the official medical system ways of treatment and rehabilitation. Although TCM is not an official part of the health care system in the Russian Federation, it is practiced in private clinics, the number of which exceeds 50 in Moscow alone.  Patients are attracted by the individualized approach and lack of side effects – TCM takes into account not only the disease itself, but also the patient's physical condition, location, habits, and even the time of year when treatment takes place.  In this respect, TCM is very different from biomedicine, in which all manipulations and appointments follow standardized medical protocols.