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Dr. Eli Reshef Participates in Physician Exchange Program in China

April 30, 2008

With strict population control efforts in China one rarely thinks of infertility as being a problem there. But just like here in the United States, many Chinese couples struggle to get pregnant. Approximately 10 to 15 percent of Chinese couples are infertile, a rate slightly higher than in the United States. Recent statistics from China show an increase in infertility, possibly due to declining sperm counts in the past 10 years.

Dr. Zhang Xuehong is an infertility specialist practicing in northwest China. She came to Oklahoma last year to observe and learn from Dr. Eli Reshef, medical director of the Bennett Fertility Institute at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center, where in-vitro fertilization pregnancy rates rank in the top 5th percentile in the United States. Dr. Zhang “shadowed” Dr. Reshef for six months, from March through August 2007.

Zhang was one of six doctors visiting Oklahoma at that time as part of a physician exchange program. The Oklahoma County Medical Society and the Gansu Province of China developed an educational partnership in the 1980s. Since then, physicians from both continents have been traveling back and forth exchanging information and ideas.

Dr. Reshef recently returned from China. He was invited to speak at Lanzhou University First Hospital by Dr. Zhang, who serves as medical director of the infertility program there. He gave three lectures to physicians, medical students, residents and nurses. All were very well attended with more than 250 people at each session.

“What the Chinese may lack in medical technology in the more rural setting,” says Dr. Reshef, who visited several rural and urban medical facilities during his tour in Gansu Province, “they make up by their great thirst for knowledge and by great strides they are making toward acquisition of technology and improvement of access to care in the most remote areas.” He was impressed by the prevalence of traditional Chinese medicine practices incorporating herbs and acupuncture that are implemented alongside “Western” medical procedures. “While there is much we can teach about our advanced health care system,” he adds, “there is much we can also learn from our Chinese colleagues about alternative health care systems.”

Currently, another group of Chinese doctors from Lanzhou is visiting several Oklahoma hospitals including INTEGRIS. Their specialties range from orthopedics and oncology to gynecology and pediatrics. They will be in Oklahoma City through August 2008.

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