Hong Kong is keen to integrate traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) into its healthcare system, although regulatory barriers and the need for clinical research remain challenges, according to TCM experts from Hong Kong and mainland China. At the Asia Summit on Global Health, held in Hong Kong earlier this month, educators, researchers and medical practitioners discussed TCM’s role in contemporary medical treatment. “A decade ago, studies on TCM were rarely found in top scientific journals, but now there are quite a few articles on TCM in those journals,” he says.
In November, 2023, an article in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology titled “The role and mechanism of TCM in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases” concluded: “The significance of Chinese herbal medicines in the context of infectious diseases should not be underestimated; however, it is crucial to also acknowledge their underutilisation.” Twenty-nine of the WHO’s member states have laws and regulations on TCM. It will initially provide only outpatient treatment, with inpatient services to be added in the second year.
All of its 400 beds will open by 2027, including 250 in inpatient wards, 90 in day wards, 40 in paediatric wards and 20 in the clinical trial and research centre. Dr Arthur Lau Chun-wing, the hospital’s deputy chief executive in Western medicine, says it will predominantly provide TCM services, with Western medicine doctors playing a supporting role. A model is being deve.
