China has significantly improved traditional Chinese medicine services at grassroots-level healthcare institutions, with nearly 77 percent of county-level regions having at least one TCM hospital, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine said on Tuesday.
Zhao Wenhua, an official at the administration, said during a news briefing that more than 85 percent of county-level general hospitals and community medical centers have set up TCM departments that feature TCM diagnostic equipment.
China plans to boost its traditional Chinese medicine workforce, especially those working at the grassroots level, according to a document released last month.
The country will intensify efforts to increase the number of TCM workers at primary healthcare institutions, channel experienced TCM experts to the countryside and improve the overall incomes and subsidies for them, according to a notice jointly released by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the National Health Commission on June 23.
The document proposed a number of measures including improving TCM education, providing TCM personnel with better payment, and improving the assessment of their performances.
In the meantime, the document also called on medical personnel who specialize in Western medicine to study TCM and integrate their knowledge in the two fields.
By 2025, all urban community health centers and rural township health clinics ought to have their own TCM division and personnel, so that residents can enjoy convenient access to TCM services, noted the document.
Since 2010, a national program aimed at offering free medical education for rural students had nurtured over 700,000 medical students with a college degree for rural clinics in central and western Chinese provinces, with 21 percent of them majoring in the field of TCM, according to the National Health Commission.
In the next five years, all grassroots-level medical workers will complete basic training on TCM knowledge.
