China says it will further modernize traditional Chinese
medicine (TCM) in the next 20 years to improve its appeal at home
and overseas as an effective alternative to Western medicine.
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The government will also work to form a healthcare system where TCM
and western medicine complement each other and build TCM into an
industry with an annual output value of 400 billion yuan (about
US$52.6 billion), according to the China National Center for
Biotechnology Development.
In modernizing TCM, efforts will be made to improve standards,
study new applications and standardize planting, production and
processing of medicinal herbs, according to the report of the
center, which is under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
"China will work to make sure that a TCM-based health system
serves as an important pillar to people's health, and a healthcare
service is established through which 85 percent of the country's
rural population have access to TCM," said the report, released at
an international conference on bio-economy.
Currently, about 3,000 hospitals in China provide TCM
treatments, with patient visits amounting to nearly 234 million
each year.
(Xinhua News Agency June 28, 2007)