Medical and Health Services in China

(scio.gov.cn)

Updated: 2014-06-13

A unique training system for qualified TCM professionals has been developed. The state takes the cultivation of qualified professionals as the cornerstone for the development of TCM. China has enhanced its efforts to pass down the academic achievements and experience of renowned and senior TCM experts as well as the training of high-caliber professionals in clinical practice. An education system for TCM personnel has been basically developed in the forms of academic education, master-apprentice tutorials and continued education at different levels and through different channels. By 2011, China had a total of 46 institutions of higher learning specializing in TCM and ethnic medicine, with 553,000 undergraduate students of TCM on campus, as well as 294,000 practitioners and assistant doctors of TCM, in addition to 97,000 licensed and assistant pharmacists in TCM.

A modernization drive for TCM has been initiated. The state has proactively promoted theoretical and technical innovations in TCM through the application of modern science and technology, and has gained important achievements in basic TCM theory, clinical diagnosis and treatment, TCM technology and other related areas. China promotes the industrialization and modernization of TCM, and as a result the industrial scale and technical level of TCM has increased markedly. Currently, there are about 1,500 manufacturers of TCM pharmaceuticals in China, and the variety, quantity and processing technique of TCM pharmaceuticals have improved by a wide margin. The state attaches importance to the protection of TCM's cultural values, and 41 TCM programs have been included on the nation's intangible heritage list.

International exchanges and cooperation have been actively promoted. China has signed treaties with TCM contents or special TCM cooperation agreements with over 70 countries, and cooperation in TCM application in foreign countries, and TCM education and technical cooperation has steadily expanded. Now, over 160 countries and regions around the world have access to TCM. TCM acupuncture and moxibustion has been recognized as a masterpiece of the intangible heritage of mankind, and the Huangdi Neijing (Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor), Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica) and other TCM treatises have been included in the UNESCO Memory of the World. The International Standardization Organization (ISO) has set up a TCM technical committee and located its secretariat in China.

VII. International Medical and Healthcare Cooperation

For a long period of time, China has been actively participating in international health affairs, and has carried out extensive inter-government and non-governmental multilateral and bilateral cooperation and exchanges. China has also proactively taken part in major health programs of the international community and international organizations. The state pays great attention to international health assistance programs, and has played a huge role in improving the medical and health conditions in many developing countries by building hospitals, training medical and healthcare professionals and carrying out disease control there.

Support has been rendered to the work of the World Health Organization and other international organizations. China has been taking an active role in international discussions on health issues and sharing experiences in this regard. In the 1970s, China summarized its practices in healthcare and played an important part in the signing of the Declaration of Alma-Ata in 1978 on primary healthcare by contributing its medical experience. In recent years, China has been efficiently maintaining timely and close contact with the World Health Organization and various countries under the framework of the International Health Regulations (2005), making its due contribution to disease control on a global scale. The Chinese government makes annual donations to the World Health Organization, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and other international efforts. China also vigorously supports international work to combat chronic diseases and human avian influenza, as well as in tobacco control, emergency medical responses and other related technical fields.