Coronavirus: team of mainland traditional Chinese medicine specialists to advise Hong Kong on Covid treatments, infection control in elderly care homes
- Chief Executive Carrie Lam and local health officials received the team of seven specialists at the Shenzhen Bay border point on Tuesday morning
- Lam says the government hopes the experts can help authorities better apply traditional medicine in treating Covid-19 patients and speeding up their recovery
A team of traditional Chinese medicine experts arrived in Hong Kong from the mainland on Tuesday to advise the government on how to strengthen infection control in care homes for the elderly and better treat Covid-19 patients.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and local health officials received the team of seven specialists – the fourth batch of medical experts dispatched from the mainland since the city’s fifth wave of coronavirus infections began – at the Shenzhen Bay border point on Tuesday morning.
Among the officials there were health minister Sophia Chan Siu-chee, Director of Health Dr Ronald Lam Man-kin, as well as Hospital Authority chairman Henry Fan Hung-ling and chief executive Dr Tony Ko Pat-sing.
Lam said the government hoped the experts could help authorities better apply traditional Chinese medicine in treating Covid-19 patients and speeding up their recovery and rehabilitation, adding that the methods had been proved effective based on the mainland’s experience.
Noting that many elderly people, including those living in residential care homes, had been infected in the fifth wave, Lam said the experts would visit those facilities to see what could be done better.
“I have asked for an arrangement for them … to observe the environment of those care homes, [determine] what more can be done to prevent infections, [and] if infections take place, how traditional Chinese medicine can be used for treatment as soon as possible,” she said.
A total of 784 homes for the elderly and 285 care centres for the disabled have reported outbreaks amid the fifth wave, with about 56 per cent of coronavirus-related deaths occurring among residents of these facilities.
Lam added that the mainland experts would also work with Covid-19 patients at the community treatment facility at AsiaWorld-Expo. About 20 traditional Chinese medicine practitioners are already working at the facility on Lantau as part of an earlier contingent of some 300 healthcare workers sent there from the mainland.
“They have been doing ward rounds, prescribing medication and helping patients to recover sooner,” Lam said, adding that it would be up to the Hospital Authority to see whether there was a need to expand the use of traditional Chinese medicine in other public facilities.
The experts are also expected to advise local authorities on the use of traditional Chinese medicine in the city’s overall anti-epidemic strategy. Meetings will also be arranged between the delegation and local experts in the field to discuss the future of the discipline in Hong Kong.
Currently, traditional Chinese medicine is being provided in 18 public clinics dedicated to the practice, with teleconsultation services made available by Baptist University and some local practitioners. Patients isolated at home can request for teleconsultation and recovered Covid-19 patients are also eligible to receive 10 free traditional Chinese medical consultations.
Local traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Chan Man-hon said: “There is no way at the moment for patients to get Chinese medicine outpatient service because according to the Department of Health’s guidelines on Covid-19 infections, they can only go to a designated clinic, which only offers Western medicine services.
“I hope it can be an opportunity for Chinese medicine to be a part of Hong Kong’s public health system.”
Lam said the government would explore how teleconsultation services by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners could be stepped up in future.
Tong Xiaolin, leader of the mainland delegation, said his team would visit the city’s community isolation facilities, elderly care homes and teleconsultation providers.
“After understanding the situation, based on Hong Kong’s situation and anti-epidemic approach, we will discuss with the Hong Kong government and fellows in Chinese and Western medicine how to draft traditional Chinese medicine plans suitable for the city,” said Tong, who is also the head of the treatment group of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
He added that traditional Chinese medicine was useful in regulating patients’ health conditions, addressing Covid-19 symptoms and treating chronic illnesses.
Kenneth Chan Chi-yuk, chairman of the Elderly Services Association of Hong Kong, welcomed the move and expressed hope that the mainland experts could start working as soon as possible.
“With their experience in traditional Chinese medicine, I believe they can help treat our infected elderly residents,” he said.
He noted that the Hospital Authority’s oral Covid-19 medication was mainly for newly infected residents and inaccessible to many elderly people who caught the disease some time ago. Some care homes had collaborated with Baptist University to apply traditional Chinese medicines to treat Covid-19 in the elderly, but coverage was limited.
With the arrival of the mainland experts, Chan hoped the elderly could now be provided with traditional Chinese medicines for treatment.
Additional reporting by Fiona Sun and Ezra Cheung
