Teaching hospital could have fixed ills of Hong Kong's Chinese medicine
Lu Aiping says the government should back Baptist's teaching hospital
When China's Shenzhou-9 astronauts were in training for their historic mission, they fortified themselves against the rigours of space flight with a daily regimen of Chinese medicine. The preparations they took proved so effective in alleviating motion sickness and decompression that other countries are now starting to investigate the benefits for their own space programmes.
This is but one example of how Chinese medicine is gaining worldwide acceptance. In fact, in Hong Kong, there are over 50 modernised Chinese medicine clinics employing registered practitioners, and the Hospital Authority's 16 clinics alone have almost one million patient visits every year.
Yet our government has apparently been oblivious to the need for a Chinese medicine hospital.
Baptist University has proposed a Chinese medicine teaching hospital on a site adjacent to the university vacated by the former Institute of Vocational Education (Lee Wai Lee). Many patients and members of the public have expressed their support for the hospital, which would fulfil the need for holistic in-patient Chinese medical treatment.
The government, however, has proposed to rezone the land for a luxury residential development. These luxury residences will not help solve the housing problems faced by the grass roots.
A Chinese medicine teaching hospital, by contrast, would benefit many thousands of patients and medicine students, while elevating Hong Kong's stature as a centre for Chinese medicine.
With rising demand for Chinese medicine services and the potential for clinical practice to inform research, the absence of such a hospital has been keenly felt. Currently, our Chinese medicine students do their one-year internships at Chinese medicine hospitals on the mainland, where Chinese and Western medicine practices are integrated.