The market for Chinese medicines in Hong Kong is expected to undergo a major
shake-up after the launch yesterday of a new product-registration system.
The system requires all manufacturers of
Chinese medicines to provide clinical proof of their claims to cure
ailments, and state the levels of toxins, pesticide residues and microbes
contained in their products
Industry leaders predicted the
regulations would lead to much-needed consolidation in the market which
could improve product quality - and with that, exports - and see less
competitive producers cease trading.
Under the Chinese Medicine Ordinance
passed in July 1999, no person shall sell, import or possess any proprietary
Chinese medicine in Hong Kong unless it is registered. The registration
system which came into effect yesterday sets a deadline of June 30 next year
for submission of applications to the Chinese Medicines Board.
In addition to providing the results of
laboratory tests, applicants must also prove products do not contain parts
of endangered species or are mixed with western medicines. Registered
products will be assigned a number that will be shown on their packaging.
About 5,000 products that were being made
or sold before March 1, 1999, will qualify for transitional registration.
Applications will be required to register
another 5,000 to 7,000 products which have gone on sale since then. Once
those applications have been processed, in about two years' time, it will be
illegal to import, sell or possess unregistered products.
Lam Ping-yan, director of health and
chairman of the board, said random checks would be conducted to ensure
compliance with the law.
Eu Yan Sang Hong Kong, which has been in
business in Hong Kong for more than a century, and sells dozens of Chinese
medicines under its brand name worldwide, said it would file an application
as early as possible. Managing director Alice Wong Suet-ying said the new
system would bring "healthy development" to the industry, even
though it would inevitably reduce the range of products available to
consumers.
-
By CHEUNG CHI-FAI and PATSY MOY South
China Morning Post
20 Dec 2003
Practitioners of the ancient medical
system, including acupuncturists, will now be regulated in B.C.
Choosing a Chinese medicine doctor will
now be safer and easier as B.C.'s first licensed Doctors of Traditional
Chinese Medicine receive their papers June 13.
All practitioners of traditional Chinese
medicine (TCM), including acupuncturists, must now be licensed by the
College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists, a
self-regulatory body created three years ago by the B.C. government to
oversee licensing.
Practitioners are now regulated in much
the same way as physicians, nurses and massage therapists, says registrar
Randy Wong.
Practitioners must complete education
requirements and a series of safety courses, pass licensing examinations,
carry at least one million dollars in malpractice insurance and meet
professional conduct standards.
TCM is not covered by the Medical
Services Plan, although the college is lobbying for coverage.
TCM is an ancient medical system that
keeps "energy" moving smoothly through a body to prevent or to
reverse a disease condition. It promotes and maintains health through diet
and exercise. Illness is treated with acupuncture, herbs and Qigong (the art
of moving energy through the body using physical movement and mental
concentration).
Go to a conventional physician if you
have a car accident, but consider a TCM practitioner if "you believe
that your body needs to be manipulated and guided gradually back to its
original condition," Wong says.
TCM and conventional medicine are often
complementary, says Wong, former chief executive officer of Mission Memorial
Hospital in the Fraser Valley. For example, cancer patients undergoing
chemotherapy may consider TCM as a means of lessening the traumatic effect
of taking large doses of chemicals.
Of 554 total applicants, 392 new and
grandfathered practitioners will be granted licenses as Doctor of
Traditional Chinese Medicine (Dr. TCM), Registered TCM Practitioner (R.TCM.P),
Registered Acupuncturist (R.AC) or Registered TCM Herbalist (R.TCM.H), Wong
says.
The vast majority of new licensees (230)
will be registered as doctors of TCM. Sixteen applicants were found to have
fraudulent credentials.
Doctors of Traditional Chinese Medicine
must have five years of TCM education. Registered TCM Practitioners must
study for four years, Registered Acupuncturists and Registered Herbalists
for three years each.
Acupuncturists have been provincially
registered since 1999 but now fall under the new College's jurisdiction. The
total number of registered TCM practitioners, including acupuncturists, will
now be 970.
TCM has been largely unregulated over its
three to 4,000 year history. Even in China, regulation is less than 10 years
old and does not seek to guide professional conduct.
The College of Traditional Chinese
Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists is the first body in the western
world to apply a regulatory model with ethical and moral standards on the
ancient healing art, Wong says.
He hopes regulation will "open the
door to further research and increased collaboration between Eastern and
Western medicine, promising greater healthcare benefits for the public in
the future."
Steps toward integrating TCM and
conventional medicine are already under way.
Stephen Lam, chairman of the B.C. Cancer
Agency's lung-tumour group recently received a U.S. $4 million grant from
the U.S. National Cancer Institute to study the preventive effects of
Chinese herbs on lung cancer.
"This will be one of the first
scientific studies in North America that will look at a Chinese herbal
remedy to prevent cancer," Lam says. "This landmark trial will
test the effects of the herbs on 3000 former smokers over 45 who have smoked
a pack of cigarettes a day for at least 30 years."
"While Western medicine is very
effective at treating acute diseases and trauma, traditional Chinese
medicine has a great deal to offer in anti-aging therapies, preventative
medicine and alleviating chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes,
arthritis and other illnesses. Traditional Chinese medicine, with its
preventive focus and low tech diagnostic and treatment approach, has the
opportunity to keep our escalating health care costs under control."
On Sept. 20 and 21, the college and the
Cancer Society of B.C. are jointly presenting a conference to explore TCM
and cancer. Information will be available at www.ctcma.bc.ca, in a few
weeks.
The College maintains a list of list of
licensed practitioners at www.ctcma.bc.ca/registrants.htm
and will respond to public queries at 604-638-3108. -
Jenny Lee
Vancouver
Sun
