"Chinese medicine is in its prime," said Chinese President Xi Jinping.
With a history of 2,500 years, Chinese traditional medicine (TCM) is always proud of its treatment system. What is even more surprising is that with the boom of the Chinese economy, TCM is also developing and expanding rapidly.
Mr. Fang Yuan is one of 10,000 traders in the northern Bozhou traditional medicine village, where the Chinese traditional medicine trade is concentrated. Here, people trade all kinds of oriental medicine, from agarwood, dried frogs to the testicles of deer and deer horns. It can be said that Bozhou medicine market is the main place for Chinese medicine market.
The story of Bozhou is a clear testament to the explosion of TCM industry. The number of hospitals specializing only in Oriental or Western medicine combined in China increased from 2,500 in 2003 to 4,000 by the end of 2015.
In particular, the number of certificates granted in oriental medicine practice in 2011 has soared by 50% to 452,000. The government of the country has also issued food and pharmaceutical safety certificates for about 60,000 herbs, which is roughly equal to one-third of the herbs currently circulating in the market. In 2015, official data showed that traditional doctors and hospitals received 910 million visits, or 16% of the total and an increase of 14% compared to 2011.
This story of oriental medicine really impresses foreign experts, especially after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 and TCM was deeply questioned by Western doctors and scientists. Western scholars argue that the increasing demand for Chinese traditional medicine is largely due to the rising incomes of the population, thereby stimulating the belief that using nutritious functional foods y, they can avoid many diseases.
However, the main reason for the rapid development of Eastern medicine has to be mentioned by President Xi Jinping. President Xi called oriental medicine "the pearl of traditional Chinese science" and acknowledged that he had used traditional medicine.
"Traditional medicine is in its golden age," President Xi declared.
This Chinese leader has even called on experts, seeing that oriental medicine is actively developing, spreading this kind of cure to the world. Since 2012 when President Xi came to power, the Beijing government has consistently emphasized that Chinese traditional medicine is in a position equivalent to the so-called "Western medicine" and issued a series of policies and plans. to spread this kind of cure to everyone from now to 2020.
Dose of their own
In early 2016, the Beijing government set out a plan to develop TCM over the next 15 years. Accordingly, traditional medicine should have an equal position with Western medicine and should also be tested and classified as Western medicine.
Documents in the White Paper (China White Paper) at the end of 2016 showed that TCM will play a key role in the restructuring of the health sector due to its affordable price.
In July 2017, for the first time, China enacted a law on oriental medicine, which set standards for traditional Chinese medicine as well as the ingredients included. The law also regulates the cultivation of medicinal herbs, such as banning the use of chemicals or standards for manufacturing traditional Chinese medicine tablets in factories.
However, the new law also eases medical practice. Previously, an oriental medicine doctor had to become a Western physician before being allowed to take an oriental medicine degree. Currently, a person can fully get a Oriental medicine license through local tests as well as getting a referral from two other traditional Chinese physicians. This move makes many experts fear the situation will increase.
The Beijing government argues that the use of cheap, naturally-sourced medicinal materials will enhance people's disease prevention at lower costs. Official figures show that inpatients in traditional hospitals spend 24% less than regular hospitals. This figure is 12% for external patients.
With the new standard, the Chinese government has revoked 81 licenses for manufacturing traditional medicine from businesses, thereby making paper in hopes of rectifying this loosening drug industry.
Rare evidence
Despite this, Western scientists have yet to find much evidence about the oriental medicine system with the human body. Early clinical trials have shown that TCM treatments are effective for a number of conditions like migraines and obesity. A number of experiments have also shown positive results when combining western medicine in the treatment of schizophrenia.
However, extensive studies and scientific evidence with traditional medicine are still poor. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reviewed 70 reports of cases of oriental medicine treatment experiments and concluded that 41 of them were too small or did not have enough scientific evidence to support them. Of the remaining 29 cases, although the results were quite positive, the samples were not objective or flawed.
Moreover, University of Newcastle expert Su Chuen Li said studies of traditional Chinese medicine showed that they had benefits but were not significant in their therapeutic role. Martin Taylor, an expert at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Beijing, said that TCM is more preventive than cure. Most traditional medicine practitioners will fine-tune their prescriptions for each patient and visit them regularly, but do not have a consistent prescription system.
Meanwhile, the most widely used traditional medicines today are more of a functional food than a specific treatment.
In addition, expert Meng Ahibin of the Beijing Zoological Institute (IZB) said that about 22% of the 112 popular oriental remedies were on the list of species about to be extinct. Some raw materials are difficult to grow or nourish, but must be hunted and exploited from nature, such as rhino horn.
Although Chinese farms have pangolin farming, supply is insufficient and pangolin smuggling is ongoing despite the worldwide ban.
