Chinese medicine clinics to help track infectious diseases

With demand for traditional Chinese medicine increasing fivefold over three years, the Hospital Authority has decided to enlist the help of its growing network of traditional medicine clinics to track the spread of infectious diseases.

The authority's sentinel surveillance network for controlling infectious diseases will be extended to Chinese medicine clinics from next year.

Practitioners of traditional medicine will use codes employed by western doctors for categorising diseases.Information from western clinics now helps track the spread of influenza and other infectious diseases, said Vivian Taam Wong Chi-woon, the Hospital Authority's director of strategy and planning.

'We hope to extend the sentinel surveillance network to Chinese medicine clinics so that we can detect any early outbreak of disease among outpatients at Chinese clinics,' said Dr Taam. 'This will be even more effective in monitoring the spread and changes of diseases.'

However, Dr Taam noted that western and Chinese medicine use different terminologies and classifications for the same or similar illnesses. 'Chinese practitioners will have to learn the codes currently used in western medicine and how to input them into the database,' she said.

To meet rising demand for Chinese medicine, the authority plans to add three to five more clinics in addition to the nine in service.