Pr. Nguyen Tai Thu (2nd from R) trains foreign doctors at the Viet Nam Central Acupuncture Hospital

Vietnamese doctors have made a name for their needles in Mexico, drawing more than 50,000 Mexican to acupuncture clinics each year, said Vietnamese acupuncturist Nguyen Tai Thu.

Addressing a workshop on Viet Nam-Mexico cooperation in acupuncture at the Viet Nam Central Acupuncture Hospital in Ha Noi on May 29, the President of the Viet Nam Acupuncture Association said as early as 1985 he started to give lectures at the Technological University of Mexico and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) at the invitation of the Mexican Science and Technology Committee and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

From 1990 to 2000, Prof. Thu trained thousands of Mexican doctors across the country in the ancient art of needle therapy. Several medical schools have opened their own acupuncture courses and four acupuncture centres have been established in Mexico City and the States of Monterrey, Zacatecas and Chihuahua, each treating an average 30-50 patients each day.

The Viet Nam Central Acupuncture Hospital has trained Mexico’s first 20 Masters in acupuncture, who graduated this May after three years of training.

Prof. Thu has been recognised as an honorary citizen of Mexico and was awarded the certificate of merit "For Mexican People's Health" in 2007 for his contributions to spreading the practice of acupuncture in Mexico. He was also one of the four foreign scientists to be conferred with the title Professor Doctor of Science.

Five doctors from the Viet Nam Central Acupuncture Hospital have also been awarded the certificate of merit from Mexico in recognition of their contributions to Mexico's health sector