A great healer can treat the ills of a country. shangyi (上医) is a skillful, first-rate doctor; “to heal a country” is to treat and eliminate its various ills. Originally this expression was used to describe how a great statesman resolved the various problems and flaws in a country’s governance, in the same way a patient's sickness was treated. It now also describes how the expertise of a great doctor can help a country prevent and control major illnesses (such as infectious diseases), thereby ensuring the well-being of the people. The term encompasses two basic concepts: first, there are parallels between healing a country and healing a disease; second, in addition to possessing outstanding skills, a doctor must have both a desire to save people and a concern for the country.

The greatest healers treat the ills of a country; lesser ones only treat those of people. This is always the duty of physicians. (Discourses on Governance of the States)

Among the practitioners of medicine in ancient times, the most skillful treated the ills of the country, less skilled ones treated people, and the least skilled ones treated diseases. (Sun Simiao: Essential Formulas for Emergencies)