Chapter 323 Medical Reform
It was noon again, and Li Nuo and Zhao Zhiyi walked out of the academy.
There are some experts secretly guarding Her Royal Highness the Princess. Whenever Li Nuo goes out, she almost always accompanies Li Nuo. As for his safety, he has nothing to worry about.
Since she didn't need Yiren's protection, she simply practiced martial arts at home.
Ever since the Yin-Yang family predicted that she would be promoted to Grandmaster this year, she has been working desperately towards this goal.
The Sixth Princess picked him up from the embassy every day and sent him back.
Li Nuo was inseparable from the Sixth Princess during the day and slept in the same room with her at night. He was busy every day and his life was fulfilling.
After being away from home for just one month, my longing for my beloved and An Ning grew deeper.
It’s okay for a beauty. Sometimes you can secretly treat her as a beauty in your heart. She doesn’t know anyway.
There is no substitute for peace.
Although the Sixth Princess is also a princess, she is not An Ning after all.
Li Nuo dreamed of them every night these days, and sometimes even dreamed of Phoenix, but he could only look at their portraits for comfort.
Fortunately, he was well prepared and brought their portraits with him when he came to Zhao State.
When passing by the palace, Li Nuo found that there were no more people queuing up at the door to see a doctor, and couldn't help asking: "Why is there no one seeing a doctor here? Have they seen all the patients near the capital?"
Zhao Zhiyi shook his head and said, "Ever since several princes invited doctors to treat the people for free, even the people who were not sick wanted to come and see the doctor. The queues at the gate of the palace were formed from morning to night, and there was simply too much to see. The sick people who were not seen were very resentful about this. Later, some chaos occurred, and the free clinic could not continue..."
Li Nuo hadn't paid attention to this matter in the past few days, and didn't realize that a lot of things had happened in just a few days.
First of all, there are too many people seeking medical treatment, and only a small number of them can be treated. The majority of people who cannot see a doctor are quite resentful, and many conflicts have broken out because of the queuing issues.
Secondly, doctors are not ordinary physicians. Their consultation fees are shockingly high, and they usually treat high-ranking officials and nobles.
Having them provide free medical treatment every day is a huge expense, far more than providing porridge. In order to fight for the throne, several princes have almost invested all their fortunes in it in the past six months. This is only free medical treatment on the surface. The people do not have to pay for medical treatment and medicine, but they are the ones who pay.
None of the four princes could afford the daily expenditure of several thousand taels of silver.
In order to save some money, the Fourth Prince did not hire a doctor on the last day, but instead invited a few ordinary doctors.
As a result, a doctor accidentally killed a person while giving him an acupuncture.
Because someone died, he paid a large sum of money to the patient's family and stopped providing free medical treatment.
The other three princes took his example and also cancelled their free medical consultations.
When many people heard about this, they rushed from far away places. They did not see any disease, but suffered in vain. They were even more unhappy and resentful, and they often cursed the four princes behind their backs.
This was supposed to be a good thing, but unexpectedly it ended up like this.
Zhao Zhiyi sighed and said, "Master Li, tell me, is it wrong to do good things?"
Li Nuo shook his head and said, "There is nothing wrong with doing good things, but even if the original intention is good, if the right method is not used, it will often lead to bad results. From the beginning, free medical consultations should not be provided. Even if only a very small fee is charged, it can block the vast majority of people who want to join in the fun, so that patients who really need treatment can get diagnosis and treatment..."
Human nature is complex, and good intentions may not necessarily lead to good results.
Li Nuo himself did not think of this at the time.
However, this incident made Li Nuo think of a direction in which he could establish political achievements.
The Fourth Prince has already made some achievements in public security, and the next step may be to focus on medical care.
People's demand for medical care may be second only to food, clothing, housing and transportation.
But no matter which country it is, medical care serves more of the upper class.
It is difficult and expensive for people to see a doctor, which is the current situation in all countries.
There are many reasons for this, and the scarcity of medical resources is the biggest one.
There were few people practicing medicine, and the best doctors would be recruited to the court to serve the royal family.
Ordinary doctors would usually be recruited by high-ranking officials and nobles to become full-time doctors in their homes. The Li Mansion had such doctors.
And those doctors who have not yet entered the profession will give priority to serving the rich.
In folk clinics, the quality of doctors varies greatly, the cost of treatment is high, and the price of medicinal materials is expensive, so ordinary people simply cannot afford it.
In addition, the imperfect medical system is also an important reason for this phenomenon.
There are few people practicing medicine, and the industry is monopolized by the upper class. Even in a place like the capital, there are very few clinics, not to mention local provincial capitals. In some remote areas, people have no access to medical treatment and can only rely on luck when they are sick.
They still have a lot to do in the medical field.
After returning to the embassy, Li Nuo told Zhao Zhiyi his idea, and the two hit it off.
While Yiren was practicing swordplay in the open space, Zhao Zhiyi sat on a stone bench in the yard and asked Li Nuo, "Where should we start?"
Li Nuo thought for a moment and said, "Medical reform is a long-term project. It may take decades or even hundreds of years to completely change the status quo. It is better to start from the capital and advance step by step..."
The scarcity of medical resources is undoubtedly a problem that needs to be addressed urgently.
A feasible approach would be for the imperial court to take the lead in establishing medical schools in various places, train more doctors, and ensure that people in every part of the country have access to basic medical care.
But this not only takes a lot of time, but also requires huge investment, and there is no visible return in the short term.
This is not something that requires a return. Instead, it requires subsidies and continuous investment from the state from other places.
Although Zhao Zhiyi agreed with Li Nuo's idea, this first step was difficult to achieve. Even if it started from Kyoto, the amount of silver needed was an unimaginable amount, and the national treasury would never allocate it to them.
All the princes, if they want to achieve any political achievements, need to raise money themselves.
My brother doesn't have much money left.
Moreover, as Li Nuo said, this is not a matter of overnight, and the time is far from enough.
Li Nuo soon learned the difficulty of this matter from the Sixth Princess.
One difficulty is that there is no money. During the process of the princes competing for the throne, the various departments in the court will not have obvious bias, unless, like before, His Majesty explicitly orders him to be responsible for setting up the Anti-Theft Bureau, all departments will fully cooperate.
The Ministry of Revenue will not allocate funds simply in the name of the Fourth Prince.
Before His Majesty makes a decision, they cannot show obvious preference for any particular prince.
Li Nuo thought for a moment, then suddenly looked at Zhao Zhiyi and asked, "What if it's in your name, the Sixth Princess?"
Zhao Zhiyi was slightly stunned and asked uncertainly: "Me?"
Li Nuo nodded and said, "You are not participating in the fight for the throne, you are just proposing a suggestion to the court to improve people's livelihood and benefit the people, isn't that okay?"
Zhao Zhiyi was slightly stunned and said, "Of course you can, but..."
Li Nuo said: "You are the Fourth Prince's biological sister. Although your achievements cannot be attributed to him, everyone knows that you represent the Fourth Prince. When the time comes, let the Fourth Prince contribute some effort, and people will always be able to see it..."
Zhao Zhiyi nodded and said, "Even if it's not for my brother, it's necessary to do this for the people of Zhao. If the Princess's Mansion comes forward, we don't even need the consent of the three provinces..."
The political situation of Zhao was different from that of Daxia.
The highest institutions of Daxia are the Three Provinces. Only after approval by the Three Provinces can it be handed over to the Six Ministries and other government offices for execution.
However, the three provinces of Zhao State delegated a large part of their power to the six ministries.
If the amount involved is not large, the Ministry of Revenue can make the final decision on the allocation of funds.
The Minister of Revenue invited Li Nuo to his home for dinner two days ago, but he was too busy to attend...
The money issue shouldn't be a big problem.
The next difficulty is people.
To open a medical school, there must be teachers. It would be best if the teachers of a medical school were doctors of a high level. However, the time of doctors of this level is very precious, and the medical expenses are astronomical, costing hundreds or even thousands of taels of silver per minute. The Fourth Prince cannot afford it.
Not to mention doctors of high level, even doctors of low level charge quite high fees.
The Ministry of Revenue can allocate money to build a college, but it will definitely not allocate money to pay them sky-high salaries.
Li Nuo could give lectures, but he was alone and couldn't take care of the academy. He really couldn't do it...
Just when Li Nuo was in trouble, two figures walked in from outside.
The Minister of Revenue walked into the courtyard, bowed to Zhao Zhiyi, and then said to Li Nuo with a smile: "Brother Li, I asked you to come several times but you didn't come. This time I'm coming in person, you should at least give me the honor, right?"
Then, he looked at a white-bearded old man beside him and said, "This is Doctor Sun from Medicine Valley. I heard that you cured my mother's illness, so I came to see you and wanted to discuss medicine with you..."
(End of this chapter)
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