WHY TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE CAN HELP COMBAT SARS

It is disheartening to see that the death toll for severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) has passed 100.

Among the victims were some in their 30s or 40s who were in good health before contracting the disease.

Although many people have proposed to the Hospital Authority that Chinese medicine, when used properly and in conjunction with the current treatment, will increase Sars patients' chance of survival, they have not been heeded.

Mountains of evidence show that when treatments with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are used, patients respond better to lower doses of steroids or antiviral drugs. Also they have fewer complications and recover faster.

The WHO experts on their visit to Guangdong Provincial TCM Hospital examined this mode of combination treatment and acclaimed its efficacy. The beauties of TCM treatment for Sars patients are manifold, including:

The herbal medicines used have many fewer side-effects;