Boards and Committees
Legislative Council Panel on Health Services
2017 Policy Address
Policy Initiatives of the Food and Health Bureau
(Paragraphs on development of Chinese medicine)
(d) Chinese Medicine
58. With the increasing public demand for Chinese medicine services in recent years, the training for Chinese medicine practitioners has been enhanced. The Government will strive to facilitate the development of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong so that it can assume a more prominent role in promoting public health.
59. As a first step, the Government will set up a dedicated unit under the Food and Health Bureau for developing Chinese medicine. The dedicated unit will be responsible for maintaining close liaison with the Chinese medicine sector, as well as coordinating and implementing the strategies and measures for promoting the development of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong. The dedicated unit will decide the positioning of Chinese medicine in the public healthcare system, which will serve as the basis for formulating the mode of operation of the first Chinese medicine hospital, enhancing the current tripartite collaboration model adopted by the Chinese Medicine Centres for Training and Research in the 18 districts and fostering the professional development of Chinese medicine practitioners. It will also promote the development of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong, and open up markets on the Mainland and nearby countries for Chinese medicine by fully leveraging Hong Kong’s advantages on various fronts.
60. As for the development of Chinese medicine hospital, the Government is actively planning for a Chinese medicine hospital at a site in Tseung Kwan O which include financing the construction of the Chinese medicine hospital. Moreover, the Government will draw reference from the analysis report prepared by the international consultant based on the consultation with local stakeholders and overseas experts and further plan for the governance structure, business model, operation model, financial model and contract management model of the Chinese medicine hospital. We expect that the positioning and the framework of development in major areas of the Chinese medicine hospital will be announced in the first half of 2018.
61. To foster the professional development of Chinese medicine practitioners as well as to provide the healthcare professionals required by the Chinese medicine hospital for the provision of integrated Chinese-Western medicine with Chinese medicine playing a predominant role, the Government will organise various training courses, such as diploma courses on Chinese medicine specialty for registered Chinese medicine practitioners and basic Western pharmacy training for Chinese medicine pharmacists. The Government will also provide relevant Chinese medicine training courses for medical practitioners, nurses and healthcare professionals. To attract more talent to join the Chinese medicine sector, the Government will review the remuneration package and promotion opportunities of staff at all levels in the Chinese Medicine Centre for Training and Research in the 18 districts to enhance their career prospects.
62. To cater for the development of Chinese medicine, we will include Chinese medicine information in the sharable scope in Stage 2 Development of the eHRSS, continue to standardise clinical and medical terminologies of Chinese medicine and develop the Chinese Medicine Information System On-ramp so as to facilitate the access and sharing of patients’ information by Chinese medicine practitioners who choose to use the eHRSS in the future.
63. The temporary Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute set up at the Hong Kong Science Park has commenced operation in phases since March 2017. To develop Hong Kong into an international hub for scientific research on Chinese medicines testing and quality control, we will speed up the establishment of the permanent Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute. Through development of a set of internationally-recognised reference standards for Chinese medicines and related products and also transfer of technology, it will help empower the industry to strengthen quality control of their products.
On-going initiatives
64. On the development of Chinese medicines, the Government will continue the Hong Kong Chinese Materia Medica Standards (“HKCMMS”) Project to study and formulate reference standards for more Chinese herbal medicines; and the consideration of including study on the reference standard for Chinese medicines decoction pieces under the HKCMMS Project, so that HKCMMS can be more widely adopted. Thus far, the HKCMMS Project has completed the compilation of HKCMMS for some 275 Chinese materia medica commonly used in Hong Kong. Our target is to set reference standards for around 28 Chinese materia medica each year. A pilot study has also been launched on the reference standard for Chinese medicines decoction pieces under the HKCMMS Project.
65. The HA has been implementing the Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine Pilot Project since September 2014 to gather experience in the operation of integrated Chinese-Western medicine and Chinese medicine in-patient services, which will serve as the basis for formulating the mode of operation of the Chinese medicine hospital. The pilot project provides treatment with integrated Chinese-Western medicine for three diseases, namely stroke, low back pain and cancer, in seven hospitals of the HA.