China will establish a traditional Chinese medicine service
network covering both urban and rural areas up to 2010, according
to a government traditional Chinese medicine development plan.
The State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SATCM)
recently publicized its eleventh five-year (2006-2010) development
plan for traditional Chinese medicine . The plan said traditional
Chinese medicine will play more important role in dealing with
public health emergencies, in preventing and controlling severe
diseases and in establishing new rural cooperative medical system
and urban community medical system in the coming five years, said
the plan.
Government will train more professionals in traditional Chinese
medicine . And traditional Chinese medicine will be protected and
spread through legislation, said the plan.
A unified traditional Chinese medicine production and
prescription standard system will be established, during the
2006-2010 period.
However, a professor with Central South University recently
launched an on-line petition calling for the removal of traditional
Chinese medicine from the country's health care system for the fact
that shoddy traditional Chinese medicine plagues market.
A source with the SATCM said, "The idea of abolishing
traditional Chinese medicine is a denial of science."
Yang Yonghua, a professor with the Hunan Academy of Traditional
Chinese Medicine, said traditional Chinese medicine is undeniably a
mainstream medical treatment method in China.
He noted that 50 percent of patients suffering terminal stage
cancer opt for traditional Chinese medicine treatments.
(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2006)