ATHENS, March 20 (Xinhua) -- International cooperation is the key in response to common challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, officials and experts said Saturday during an online medical forum hosted by the Athens-based Global Doctors' Hippocratic Institute.
Under the theme "Hippocrates unites the five continents", participants from 15 countries exchanged views on the legacy of ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (5th century BC), who is considered to be the father of western medicine, as well as his philosophy and lessons that could be useful today.
They also discussed the need for closer collaboration between Western and Eastern medicine.
"In the unthinkable today of the COVID-19 pandemic, we considered our duty in the Hippocratic Institute to share the rare comparative knowledge of antiquity and today, through the most valid scientific data, as a message of optimism for humanity's victory over the pandemic," said George Patoulis, president of the institute as well as head of the Athens Medical Association and Governor of Attica region, in his welcome speech.
Cypriot Minister of Education, Culture, Sport and Youth Prodromos Prodromou noted in his speech that "The recent pandemic gave humanity the opportunity to reconsider on the values of community, solidarity and fellowship."
"He (Hippocrates) was the one who laid the foundations for rational interpretation on people's illnesses. He grasped the conception of holistic health, physical and mental. His ethical approach in medicine has been a significant aspect of his work and inheritance," he said.
Delivering a speech on Chinese medicine in antiquity in relation to Hippocratic Medicine, Prof. Peng Daiyin, president of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, said that Chinese doctors such as Bian Que, who lived in the same period and laid the foundation of the traditional Chinese medicine, held common medical ideals and approaches.
For example, they also separated medicine from witchcraft and superstition, they all used herbal medicine to treat patients and they all regarded the life and health of patients as the soul of medicine, he explained.
In the course of centuries, Chinese medicine and Western medicine formed distinct characteristics which increased diversity of medicine in the world and this diversity will have a far-reaching impact on the cause of human health in the future, Peng said.
The Chinese professor also called for the strengthening of cooperation in medical areas in order to face ever growing medical challenges. Enditem