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VOLUME 22, NUMBER 46
DECEMBER 12,1975
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Dr. WiUiam C. Aniyan Reflects on His China Trip
Observations behind the Bamboo Curtain
By Charles Young
Before the cultural revolution in
the People’s Republic of
China—1966 to 1969—it took six
years of medical training and clinical
experience to become a doctor.
Now, as the result of a different
approach to education and
professional preparation, it takes just
three years.
The argument on the part of the
new leaders.of China was that they
could not afford the additional
training time if they were to achieve
an adequate level of health care for
the 800 million people within their
mainland borders.
1,000 Years
To continue with the six-year
program, they contended, would
have meant that they could not
expect to establish a manageable
doctor-patient ratio for another
thousand years.
Therefore, to speed things up they
began turning out doctors in'Tialf the
time.
In addition, they started a program
which was designed to further ease
the burden of medical practitioners
and specialists.
It is a program in which certain
selected individuals are given a
four-month indoctrination and
training course, and then sent out
into the field as first-level health
practitioners.
The training consists of two
months of theoretical lectures
followed by two months of clinical
Doctors To Attend
Conference Here
Sexuality, depression and drug use
among the elderly are among the
topics to be discussed at an all-day
conference for practicing physicians
here on Dec. 13.
Plans for the conference grew out
of a series of discussions with
physicians actively engaged in family
practice, and reflect a growing
awareness of the complexity of
medical problems of the elderly.
Other areas of study will include
evaluation of the disoriented and
demented patient, counseling the
family, office management^nd the
role of the physician in the long-term
care institution.
The conference, “Geriatric
Medicine for the Practicing
Physician,” is being co-sponsored by
the Center for the Study of Aging
and Human Development, the
Family Medicine Program, both at
Duke, and the American Geriatrics
Society.
The program will feature speakers
from the fields of psychiatry,
psychiatric social work, community
health science^, sociology and family
practice, it will be held in the
Hospital Amphitheater.
experience. After that, the graduates
are assigned to either a factory or a
commune where they become the
first line of defense in the treatment
of disease and injury.
Barefoot Doctors
In the factories they are called
health aides, in the communes they
are known as “barefoot doctors.”
I hese and other innovations and
changes in Chinese culture were
among the major areas of interest for
a delegation from Duke which
recently completed an 18-day visit to
China.
Dr. William G. Aniyan, vice
president for health affairs, headed
the delegation.
“I think that one has to look at the
health care system in the People’s
Republic in the light of what the total'
country is doing, and where it’s been
and where it's headed rather than
take isolated specialty areas and try to
compare them with the state of the
science or the art in the United States
or elsewhere,” Aniyan said in an
interview.
He also cautioned that any
assessment of China must take into
account the turbulence of its recent
■
SURGERY IN CHINA—Dr. William C. Aniyan (second from left) and University
Trustee Edwin C. Whitehead (on Aniyan's left) observe as Chinese doctors prepare
for cataract surgery. Aniyan, vice president for health affairs, led a Duke group on an
18-day visit to China which included tours of several medical facilities.
past and the fact that its current
culture began in 1948-49.
k
Don't Forget Your Party!
Tie a string around your finger, or mark your calendar, or have a friend
remind you.
But don’t miss the annual Duke Hospital Christmas Party.
ItAvill be next Wednesday, Dec. 17, in the Courtyard Cafeteria.
■ The hours will be from 2-4 p.m. for people who work in the daytime, and
from 10 p.m.-midnight for the night people.
Twenty-five turkeys will be given away as door prizes.
Food ^rvice is working out the menu, and it will include such things as
punch, cookies, butternut squares, brownies, nuts and other diet-defying
delicacies.
There’ll be entertainment and, of course, Santa Claus.
But the most important item is you. So don’t forget.
l8*Day Expert
“It’s very temptmg to become an
18-day expert on China,” he said,
“which is a pitfall 1 want to avoid. For
such a vast country, with 800 million
people, it would be impossible to have
an appreciation of how the total
machinery really works, judging only
by what we were shown.
“We have to depend a lot on the
objectivity and honesty of the
background material supplied to us,”
he said, pointing out that he saw only
(Continued on page 2)
University Ends
Giving Drive
The 1975 United Fund Drive at
Duke officially closed last week, and
according to Campaign Director
William Jennings, the annual giving
program was “very sutjcessful.”
The university, including the
medical center, raised $93,983,
Jennings said.
The money represents an all-time
high for contributions at Duke. Most
of the money was designated by
contributors for use in Durham and
Durham County. Of the total, $3,869
w ill l>e applied to outlying counties.
"Considering that there were
slightly fewer employees at Duke this
year and that on a national level it
wasn't a very g(x>d year for the
economy. I'd say those who
contributed did a great job,” the
associate director of alumni affairs
said.
“On behalf of the university and
the United Fund, I'd like to thank
everyone who worked on the
campaign here and especially
everyme who c«mtributed,” Jepnings
added.