Microsurgery in China: A personal view; Report of a journey to China in 1996

✍ Scribed by Martin B. Hirigoyen

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 322 KB
• Volume: 17
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0738-1085
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2752(1996)17:5<245::aid-micr1>3.0.co;2-i

✦ Synopsis

Following a highly enjoyable 2-year microsurgical fellowship at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, I had three summer months available before resuming my clinical training at Mount Vernon Hospital in London. Inspired by the stones recounted across the microscope by Dr. Wen Zhang, my microsurgical tutor and colleague during this period, I planned to visit several plastic surgery units in mainland China. My primary objective was to learn from the highly reputed microsurgical centres in Shanghai and Beijing, but I was also determined to gain a first-hand experience of the philosophies and history of Chinese medicine. In spite of the important socio-political changes that have affected China in the last three decades, little is known in the West about the structure of its health care system, and I was also eager to investigate the current climate in plastic surgery in a country whose values are changing so rapidly.