‘Extraordinary’ for Australia: Murtagh translated to Mandarin

Well known as the gold standard Australian textbook of general practice, John Murtagh’s General Practice (8th edition) has been translated and published in Mandarin Chinese.
 
Adjunct Associate Professor of General Practice at Monash University Hui Yang is the executive editor of the translated work. He told newsGP the Mandarin version of ‘the GPs’ bible’ is now available for 450,000 Chinese GPs.
 
‘This is significant work,’ he said. ‘It shows acceptance of Australian general practice’s value in a big country of [more than] 1.4 billion, and the potential of cooperation in general practice education and training, as well research in the near future.’
 
On 24 July, Associate Professor Yang met with RACGP CEO Paul Wappett and Chief General Practice Training Officer Georgina van de Water at the college’s national office in Melbourne to officially present the new version of the publication.
 
Mr Wappett congratulated Associate Professor Yang on ‘an incredible resource’, welcoming the influence of Australian general practice around the world.
 
‘This [translated work] is a feat of perseverance, because it took two years and he’s done it as a labour of love essentially, to ensure that we do have that level of connection and influence and that there’s a great resource available,’ Mr Wappett told newsGP.
 
‘A group of senior doctors in China are trying to get general practice up and going as a concept because they’ve been so hospital-centric in their health system, and are looking at general practice resources from around the world to see which one they think best suits them in terms of stage of development and basically being the quintessential resource.
 
‘So that’s an extraordinary thing for the Australian profession to be able to claim.’
 
After the first Mandarin translation of the fourth edition sold out to ‘great response’ in China in 2010, the next Mandarin version – the eighth edition – was launched in April 2023 at a general practice conference in Sichuan, attended by more than 5000 Chinese doctors.
 
For many years Associate Professor Yang has collaborated with Chinese colleagues on general practice training and primary care research, to complete the work, while also receiving assistance from 120 translators and input from the Journal of Chinese General Practice.
 
‘In China, there are many followers of Professor Murtagh. They believe that his thoughts and Australian general practice and education are the most important reference and direction for the development of general practice in China,’ Associate Professor Yang said.
 
‘The Australian style of general practice – preventive care focused, patient-centred care, community-based, comprehensive, and continuous service – has resonated greatly among Chinese counterparts.’
 
However, while there are similarities between the approach to general practice in Australia and China, Associate Professor Yang also notes some differences.
 
‘Australia’s GP college was established in the late 1950s, while China’s was founded in the early 2000s. This means China is facing opportunities and challenges that we faced 50 years ago,’ he explained.
 
‘China’s health system is still hospital and specialist dominated. The GP “first contact” arrangement does not function well. However, the two countries are facing common problems, such as population ageing, multiple chronic conditions, rising costs … as well as workforce disparity and GP shortages in rural and remote areas.
 
‘Both China and Australia can learn a lot from collaboration and exchange, for strengthening primary care and improving health equality.’
 
A significant example of this collaboration, according to Associate Professor Yang, is the Monash-Shenzhen General Practice Program. Since 2010, groups of Chinese GPs from Shenzhen have been trained at Monash University in Melbourne as part of an agreement with the Government of Shenzhen to train GP leaders.
 
The program currently consists of 13 weeks of offshore experiential learning in Melbourne, including university lectures and visits to hospitals, general practices and GP training centres to observe how the Australian system works.
 
‘The first group returned to China and became the disseminator of ideas of Australian general practice and Murtagh’s general practice model,’ Associate Professor Yang said.
 
‘Some of these training delegates also worked on the book translation. They hope that through translation work, they can better understand Australian general medicine.
 
‘To provide general practice services in multicultural Australia, it is a good strategy to improve cultural sensitivity and competency of clinical practitioners. To translate and transfer general practice across countries and cultures will benefit both doctors and the community.’
 
Mr Wappett agrees the translated publication will help to build Australian general practice’s influence in a global setting, including highlighting it as an attractive destination for Chinese-trained doctors.
 
‘As the general practice profession starts to take a hold in China, they look at Australia’s model of general practice as being the standard, essentially,’ he said.
 
‘So that’s going to increase our influence on the way that general practice is being practised around the world. When you look at the possibility of data that comes out of China as the one of the largest populations in the world, and for that to underpin empirical research, it’s a phenomenal opportunity.
 
‘The opportunity to do that cross-barrier research is a really important one for us. It’s showing our influence on the world and then showing the potential that we’ve got to be able to get to continue to forge relationships with the profession in China.’
 
Professor John Murtagh AO and Professor Leon Piterman AM, both emeritus professors of general practice at Monash University, provided advice during the translation. The Mandarin version was published by the People’s Medical Publishing House of China.
 
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