You Can't Treat Patients, So What Use Are You Western Doctors to Me?

Lu Yuan glanced at his mother-in-law's injuries and suggested, "Let's take Auntie to the hospital first!"

Wang Meiqi and her family helped her mother into the car and rushed to the hospital in a frantic hurry.

A little over half an hour later, the family arrived at the hospital.

After listening with a stethoscope for a while, a doctor in a white coat said to Wang Meiqi's family, "Take the old lady upstairs for a urine test and a complete blood count in a little while. Get an ultrasound and a CT scan while you're at it, so we can check everything. Pay at the counter in the first-floor lobby first."

Lu Yuan frowned and looked at the doctor in displeasure. "My mother-in-law was beaten and has external injuries. An ultrasound should be enough, shouldn't it? Is it necessary to do so many tests?"

"Are you the doctor, or am I? Aren't all these tests for your mother-in-law's own good? What if she has some hidden illness? Then we can treat it at the same time, can't we?" the doctor said irritably.

In fact, no matter what illness a patient came to the hospital with, this doctor always ordered a pile of tedious tests first. His aim wasn't to help the patients at all, but purely to earn the hospital more money so he could pocket more kickbacks himself.

Wang Meiqi sighed and said helplessly, "Forget it. Let's get the tests done. What the doctor said isn't entirely unreasonable."

Just then, the door to the Western medicine office was pushed open, and Ma He walked in from outside. He spotted Lu Yuan and the others at once and immediately said in a mocking tone, "Well, well! Lu Yuan, enemies sure meet on a narrow road!"

"What happened here? Was Auntie Lin beaten up?"

When her mother-in-law saw Ma He, her face lit up with warmth. "Little Ma, you came at just the right time. Isn't your father an authority in Western medicine? Auntie is in terrible pain, and I don't want to do a pile of tests. Could you make things easier for me?"

Ma He touched the rim of his glasses and pondered. "Make things easier? That's a little difficult. Your Meiqi won't date me, and she already has the great Chairman Lu Yuan. However you look at it, I have no reason to help you."

Her mother-in-law's expression turned awkward. If this had happened before, she would certainly have told her daughter to leave Lu Yuan and get together with Ma He. But when Lu Yuan had just stood up for her, it had seemed that his social background was even stronger than Ma He's. Comparing the two, Lu Yuan was still the better choice for a son-in-law.

Her mother-in-law sighed. "Forget it. Auntie doesn't need you to make things easier. I'll go get the tests done!"

Seeing that he had been turned down, Ma He's face darkened. He snorted coldly and slammed the door on his way out.

Lu Yuan and Wang Meiqi took her mother to get a number from a machine, then waited outside the examination room for it to be called. The people ahead of them finished their tests one by one, and when it was finally her mother's turn, a doctor in a white coat came out and said apologetically, "Sorry, ma'am, the hospital has lost power, and there's also a minor equipment malfunction that needs repairing. Please try another hospital or come back tomorrow. The machine can't be used right now."

"What? The power's out? But I'm in terrible pain. I can't take any more running around..." Her mother-in-law could only feel the unbearable pain.

The doctor's expression and tone turned unfriendly. "Ma'am, there's no need to tell me all that. There's nothing I can do about the malfunction or the power outage. You're not the only one waiting to see a doctor. Other people can transfer to another hospital or wait until the machine is repaired, so why can't you?"

Wang Meiqi was furious. "How can you talk to people like that?"

"Heh, that's how I talk. Take it or leave it!"

Lu Yuan clenched his fists, anger blazing in his heart. They wouldn't treat patients because the power was out and the machine had malfunctioned, but what if a patient's condition couldn't wait? Weren't they hurting people and holding things up?

Lu Yuan called the president of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Association. "The Magic City Second Orthopedic Hospital. Arrange for a traditional Chinese medicine surgeon near me to come over immediately. My mother-in-law was beaten. Her head and face were severely injured when someone hit her with an iron cane."

"Yes, yes, yes. I'll arrange it for you right away, Chairman. Please wait patiently."

The nurses and doctors, however, mistook what Lu Yuan had done for showing off.

It wasn't until an elderly man entered the hospital with a pile of surgical equipment that everyone was completely dumbfounded and cried out in shock. "Tang Renbo, the orthopedic and neurovascular specialist? Elder Tang?!"

Tang Renbo strode over to Lu Yuan and bowed ninety degrees. "Hello, Chairman Lu!"

The sight once again left the people at the hospital unable to remain calm. Elder Tang had actually called that young man Chairman Lu?

Elder Tang held considerable sway even internationally, and several of his medical papers had won the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

He had also performed tens of thousands of surgeries that could be called perfect and had a wealth of experience. The country's ten most prestigious hospitals had once publicly raised their offers just to compete for him alone. Given his standing in the medical world, he was not someone who could be summoned so easily.

Yet Lu Yuan had made one phone call, and in a commanding tone at that, and Elder Tang had come? Just who was Lu Yuan?

Lu Yuan urged him, "Hurry and arrange surgery for my mother-in-law. The power is out at this hospital, and there's no medical equipment. Can you manage?"

Tang Renbo looked proud. "Of course! I'm not like those trash Western doctors who can't treat patients without their instruments and equipment. It's a minor problem. Leave it to me, Chairman Lu."

Her mother-in-law was wheeled into the operating room, and a few hours later, her treatment was complete. Tang Renbo instructed, "Chairman Lu, a few prescriptions of Chinese medicine will be enough for your mother-in-law to make a full recovery."

Lu Yuan nodded in satisfaction and said approvingly, "When it matters, traditional Chinese medicine is still the one you can count on."

A young Western doctor nearby was somewhat unconvinced. "Chairman Lu, you can't say that. Traditional Chinese medicine relies on taking pulses to examine and diagnose patients. Relying on human effort alone is too slow. How many patients can you see in a day? It's the twenty-first century. We need to treat patients scientifically."

Lu Yuan sneered. "Heh, then you can wait to go home and be scientific!"

"Chairman Lu, I don't understand what you mean!" The young doctor in the white coat looked baffled.

Lu Yuan chuckled. "You'll understand in a little while."

Lu Yuan took out his phone and called the president of the Western Medicine Association. "Starting today, the Western Medicine Association is dissolved. Tell every Western doctor to get the hell home. Our country doesn't need Western medicine."

"Huh? Chairman Lu, what happened? How can you just dissolve it like that... Chairman Lu, with all the tests those machines can perform, we can make a tidy sum every time someone gets checked, sick or not. The Western medicine field is a huge cake. We can't dissolve it, Chairman Lu!"

The president of the Western Medicine Association sounded deeply unwilling over the phone.

Lu Yuan was enraged. "Ordinary people come to see a doctor when they're sick because they want their problems resolved quickly and to receive treatment quickly. What about Western doctors? Oh, the power goes out and the equipment malfunctions, so you can't treat patients anymore. If someone has a terminal illness and their life is hanging by a thread, would you send them home to wait too?"

"Besides, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners today also study Western medicine. They all recognize Western medical symbols, and it's not as if they can't use medical equipment. In that case, what use are you Western doctors to me?"