How can traditional Chinese medicine earn trust?

Recently, the “12th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Cause” was issued.

How should the traditional Chinese medicine bring its advantages into effect? How should China guarantee the growth of the traditional Chinese medicine? How should China eliminate mysteries of the traditional Chinese medicine?

Core viewpoints

Viewpoint One:
The traditional Chinese medicine with the practical effect and low cost will play a more important role. Meanwhile, the traditional Chinese medicine's advantages of the holistic theory, personalized dialectical treatment and “preventive treatment of disease” health care method will become more obvious.

Viewpoint Two:
China should gradually increase the governmental subsidy to the traditional Chinese medicine and properly set charging items and their prices of the traditional Chinese medical service and bring qualified traditional Chinese organizations, treatment items and medicaments into the medical insurance.

Viewpoint Three:
China should abstract core values and spiritual essences of the traditional Chinese medicine in three areas of the spirit, action and substance and establish a traditional Chinese medicine popularizing group consisting of national-level and provincial level experts to popularize the traditional Chinese medicine nationwide.

Question One: Does the traditional Chinese medicine have any advantages?
An official from the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China said that, since the beginning of the 11th Five-Year Plan, the number of traditional Chinese medicine hospitals in China had increased from 3,009 of 2005 to 3,232 of 2010 and the average annual growth rate was 1 percent.

According to sources, it is expected that the number of the traditional Chinese medicine hospitals will increase from 3,232 of 2010 to 3,397 of 2015 and the expected annual growth rate will be also 1 percent. The beds of the hospitals will increase from 471,000 of 2010 to 692,000 of 2015 and the expected annual growth rate will be 8 percent, equal to that of the 11th Five-Year Plan period. It could be seen that the goals will be reached.

Then, are the common people interested in the traditional Chinese medicine? How should the traditional Chinese medicine raise its medical treatment level?

In the 11th Five-Year Plan period, the number of patients received by traditional Chinese medicine hospitals had increased from 234 million of 2005 to 360 million and the average annual growth rate was 9 percent. According to the 12th Five-Year Plan, the number of patients received by traditional Chinese medicine hospitals will exceed 550 million in 2015.

The official said that, the traditional Chinese medicine hospital will insist on changing the development mode and bring its special characters and advantages into effect.

It will change the single illness treatment mode into a comprehensive mode covering the illness treatment, illness prevention and health care.

It will change from emphasizing only the development of the traditional Chinese medicine hospital to emphasizing the joint development of various traditional Chinese medicine forms, including the hospital, clinic and medicament service.

It will change from emphasizing only the expansion of the size of the traditional Chinese medicine hospital to emphasizing also the special characters, advantages and service of the traditional Chinese medicine.