Why it’s so hard for China to promote the use of traditional remedies abroad to treat Covid-19

Name: China allocates US$1.63 billion for urgently needed medical supplies to fight coronavirus
Uploaded: 2020-10-10T02:00:23.000Z
Duration: 2 min 9 s
Description: China allocates US$1.63 billion for urgently needed medical supplies to fight coronavirus

There is not enough evidence from randomised controlled trials to establish traditional remedies’ effectiveness in treating the coronavirus, experts say

Chinese officials and doctors have gone to great lengths to highlight TCM’s impact on bringing the outbreak under control on the mainland

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Yujing Liu

Published: 10:00am, 10 Oct 2020Updated: 4:11pm, 10 Oct 2020

In a little-noticed announcement in April, the Hong Kong government launched a free traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) rehabilitation programme for patients recovering from the coronavirus.

The voluntary programme, covering up to 10 consultations with five doses of herbal medication prescribed during each visit, was meant to provide patients with an alternative following their discharge from hospital, as well as to foster the integration of TCM and western medicine, according to the Food and Health Bureau.

The programme has, however, done little to enhance the role of TCM practitioners in the fight against the pandemic. Not a part of the public hospital system managed by the Hospital Authority, they are not even allowed to diagnose or treat coronavirus patients.

Lin Zhixiu, professor and associate director of the School of Chinese Medicine at Chinese University of Hong Kong. Photo: Handout

The frustration felt by TCM practitioners in Hong Kong, which is home to about 10,000 TCM practitioners and 14,600 western medicine doctors, is another reminder of the lack of recognition for the ancient school of medicine outside mainland China. And while long-standing distrust among practitioners of modern medicine might have hamstrung wider adoption of TCM, particularly for treating Covid-19, it is a dearth of scientific proof of their efficacy that has hampered efforts by Beijing to win international recognition for its traditional remedies, according to medical experts.

Their disappointment also runs especially deep because about 92 per cent of all coronavirus patients in mainland China have been treated with traditional remedies. “Mainland China gives equal weight to western medicine and TCM. But Hong Kong is not like that,” said Lin Zhixiu, professor and associate director of the School of Chinese Medicine at Chinese University of Hong Kong. “At least, some coronavirus patients in Hong Kong have lost their chance to benefit from it.”

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China allocates US$1.63 billion for urgently needed medical supplies to fight coronavirus