Medical workers weigh herbs and prepare packages of traditional Chinese medicine designed to boost the immune system in Nantong, Jiangsu province, last month. (XU PEIQIN/FOR CHINA DAILY)
The Chinese Medicine Development Fund should be more proactive in subsidizing strategic projects to raise technology standards in the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) industry, the head of the fund's advisory committee said.
Douglas So Cheung-tak, the advisory committee chairman of the CMD Fund, said it should also cultivate TCM professionals and foster regional collaboration with TCM practitioners in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Following the success of the Chinese Medicine Telemedicine Scheme, the CMD Fund can explore some forward-looking and experimental TCM projects, such as facilitating diagnosis with innovative technologies, he said.
The Chinese Medicine Development Fund can explore some forward-looking and experimental TCM projects, such as facilitating diagnosis with innovative technologies, said Douglas So Cheung-tak, the advisory committee chairman of the fund
“For example, can local residents make electronic bookings of TCM practitioners for consultation? How can TCM clinics upgrade their websites? How can patients’ pulse information be uploaded to TCM practitioners through mobile phones so that practitioners can give a more accurate diagnosis?” So said.
The Hong Kong government set aside HK$500 million ($64.1 million) in 2018 to set up the CMD Fund which is supervised by the Food and Health Bureau. The fund was officially put into operation in June 2019.
As of March 31 this year, the advisory committee has approved 4,200 funding applications, amounting to more than HK$93 million. Over HK$400 million of the fund remains unallocated.
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The approved applications involve more than 10 mega-projects on training TCM practitioners, improving TCM clinic facilities, refining TCM logistics warehouse functions, facilitating TCM registration, powering TCM education, setting up a TCM information platform and conducting TCM clinical research.
So said the Chinese Medicine Telemedicine Scheme supported by the CMD Fund can boost the TCM industry to help fight the pandemic through leveraging technology to conduct remote consultations.
The telemedicine program was organized by the Federation of the Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Chinese Medicines Traders Association in March and is expected to last until the end of this month. It subsidizes some 400 TCM practitioners in Hong Kong to provide free Chinese medicine telemedicine services and Chinese medicine deliveries on the same day to an average of 100 COVID-19 patients who are quarantined at home.
So said the CMD Fund does not need another capital injection from the government, as the priority of the fund’s advisory committee is to ensure the fund performs well so that TCM industry stakeholders can appreciate its contribution.
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“The advisory committee hopes that it can finish the medium-term review report of the CMD Fund within this year. We are listening the voices of stakeholders in the TCM industry to gauge their opinions on how the CMD Fund can improve in raising the industry standard,” So told China Daily.
In addition to technology, the CMD Fund will also consider TCM projects related to Hong Kong’s first TCM hospital which is expected to start operating in phases from mid-2025. Those projects involve cultivating TCM professionals required by the hospital and complementing the research work related to its construction.
Located in Tseung Kwan O, the city’s first TCM hospital has a 400-bed capacity and is expected to serve between 1,000 and 1,200 patients daily. The hospital will begin operations in phases with outpatient and day-patient services opening in the first year, and inpatient services in the second year.
The project is a public-private partnership, with government funding available for its construction while the Hong Kong Baptist University has won the tender to operate the hospital.
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The third area of focus lies in Greater Bay Area development opportunities. “How can the CMD Fund promote more cooperation between TCM practitioners in Hong Kong and the GBA in the area of conducting cross-border TCM clinical research? How can the fund promote development opportunities for the TCM industry in the city-cluster area so that TCM practitioners across the border can learn from each other?” So said.
So added that he hopes the TCM practitioners in Hong Kong can cooperate with their counterparts in the GBA, and TCM stakeholders in the city can make contributions to the public health care systems in Hong Kong as well as the GBA.