São Paulo, April 14 (Xinhua, Ruohan Gong) -- It was just an ordinary day in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. At eight in the morning, the city was still half asleep with closed doors and windows of shops, and few people were in the streets. But it was a quite different picture in the clinic of Associacao Zhong-Yi-Yao de Medicina no Brasil (AZYMEC), the Brazil Association of Chinese Medicine, which is located southwest of the city. A dozen or so acupuncturists in white coat, divided into two groups, took medical equipment on board, ready to provide free acupuncture treatment at two separate sites. 

One group came to Associação Rejuvenescer de Cotia (Rejuvenation Association of Cotia), a senior center in Cotia, São Paulo. When they arrived, over sixty senior citizens had already been sitting in the hall, waiting for their free treatment from the acupuncture professionals.

On April 7, Brazilian seniors were waiting for free acupuncture treatment at the gratuitous medical site in Cotia, São Paulo. (Xinhua/Ruohan Gong)

Placed at the corner of the hall, which was enclosed by yellow canvas, were eleven examination beds. At nine o’clock, altogether twelve acupuncturists, including Chinese and natives, were well-prepared and started to work. After looking through the medical records and asking for details about their patients, they quickly made diagnoses and gave treatments based on specific diseases. They did their job adroitly and neatly.

Fukun Ye, president of AZYMEC, told Xinhua that acupunctrists of AZYMEC had been offering gratuitous medical service in the south of São Paulo on the first Sunday of each month for 16 years since 2003. The number of patients there has reached two or three hundred now. They then started at the senior center in Cotia, São Paulo about 6 years ago and treated almost one hundred patients each time, which mostly consist of senior citizens above 60 years who suffered from chronic disease.

On April 7, free acupuncture treatment was offered at the senior center in Cotia, São Paulo. (Xinhua/Ruohan Gong)

Odalys, 60 years old, has been receiving treatment for 3 years. She once had swollen feet after undergoing heart bypass surgery, and the illness began to recede after acupuncture treatment. Now she is receiving treatment for lumbar vertebra problems. “The gratuitous medical service was amazing! It was an act of kindness. The doctors were so kind,” she said to Xinhua.

José, 74 years old, also commended acupuncture therapy for its significant effectiveness. He first came here in March for hyperostosis of lumbar spine and shoulder pain, and felt much better after receiving treatment. He said that he would stick to it and recommend this place to his relatives and neighbors as well.

Around 12 o’clock, nearly 90 patients received treatment. “Usually only members of the center can receive gratuitous medical service, because it’s so popular that people will flood to our center if we don’t limit the number of patients,” Terezinha, head of health department of the senior center, told Xinhua.

On April 7, acupuncturists were treating patients at the gratuitous medical site of Cotia. (Xinhua/Ruohan Gong)

Peiling Ma, vice president of AZYMEC, said that Brazilians have difficulty in getting medical service. Considering the long waits for treatments of chronic disease in public hospitals and high costs of going to private hospitals, more and more Brazilians choose high quality and inexpensive acupuncture therapy instead.

Gratuitous medical service requires not only the skill of an acupuncturist, but also a loving heart. “Gratuitous medical service produces a group of doctors who are caring and dedicated,” Fukun Ye said.

Rosa, who had been a physical therapist before becoming an acupuncturist, started acupuncture theory learning and clinical practice in 2012. She said that gratuitous medical service was a good chance to learn from her teacher and advance her skills. She participated in it because Chinese medicine could help a lot of people and she wanted to give back to Brazilian people.

Some Chinese acupuncturists also said it was very meaningful to give back to society by treating Brazilians with Chinese therapies.