China will accelerate the development of traditional minority
medicine, a top official with the Ministry of Health said
yesterday.
The remarks came after an official statement that traditional
Chinese medicine was one of the best parts of Chinese culture and
should not be excluded from medical and health systems in the
country.
The statement, made by the Ministry of Health and the State
Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SATCM), was in
response to a call by some academics to abolish traditional Chinese
medicine (TCM) from the country's medical system.
By the end of last year, a total of 15 ethnic groups including Tibetans, Mongolians
and Uygur minorities had established 195 hospitals that treated
patients with their minority medicines, She Jing, vice-health
minister and director of SATCM told a national conference.
The gathering of Chinese minorities' medicine proponents was
held on Friday and Saturday in Beijing.
She vowed to enhance the service capabilities of minority
medical organizations and strengthen the training of ethnic
professionals.
Furthermore, she said SATCM would establish a number of
laboratories for Mongolian, Tibetan and Uygur minority medical
research institutes.
She said she believed ethnic medicine was an inexpensive
solution to treat diseases among minority people.
The medical fee for ethnic medical treatment was only half that
of TCM hospitals and one third of Western medical institutions,
according to She.
The central government invested more than 73 million yuan
(US$9.35 million) from 2001 to 2005 on construction of minority
medical organizations.
Local governments also strengthened investment in minority
medicine.
For example, the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region invested nearly 80
million yuan (US$9.9 million) in expanding five Tibetan hospitals
in the region.
The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region also
increased annual Mongolian medicine funds from 1 million yuan
(US$123,000) to 20 million yuan (US$2.5 million).
The debate over the fate of TCM was started by Zhang Gongyao, a
professor of philosophy of science at Changsha-based Central South
University.
In early October, Zhang posted an article on his blog suggesting
the government abolish TCM from the official medical system but
still retain it as an unfunded, grass-roots service. He said TCM
had too many unscientific components, high toxicity and uncertain
therapeutic effects.
(China Daily December 9, 2006)