Secretary for Health Prof Lo Chung-mau today chaired a joint meeting of the Chinese Medicine Development Committee and its three subcommittee, namely the Chinese Medicine Practice Subcommittee, the Chinese Medicines Industry Subcommittee, and the Chinese Medicine Development Blueprint Subcommittee.

The purpose of the joint meeting was to take forward policy initiatives relating to Chinese medicine (CM) that were announced in the 2024 Policy Address. The health chief also held in-depth discussions on progress towards formulating the Chinese Medicine Development Blueprint and commissioning the Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong.

During the meeting, representatives of government departments and organisations told committee members that the Government continues to press ahead with stakeholder engagement and consultation work relating to the blueprint.

They also briefed the members on leveraging the strengths of Hong Kong’s dual-track healthcare system, which incorporates both Chinese and Western medicine. They stressed that this can contribute to CM internationalisation.

The Hospital Authority said it will further expand integrated Chinese-Western medicine services. This will include launching pilot programmes for the treatment of respiratory diseases and knee osteoarthritis, which are common degenerative illnesses among an ageing population.

Updates were also given on preparations for commissioning the Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong, which is expected to commence services in phases starting from the end of next year.

The hospital will offer outpatient and inpatient care in pure CM, CM-predominant medicine, and integrated Chinese-Western medicine. It will provide six specialised CM services, namely internal medicine, external medicine, gynaecology, paediatrics, orthopaedics and traumatology, and acupuncture and moxibustion. Services for 23 special disease programmes will also be available.

Prof Lo said: “I look forward to working with members and stakeholders of the CM sector to jointly formulate the Chinese Medicine Development Blueprint, setting out concrete strategies for the overall development of CM in Hong Kong, as well as the short, medium and long-term objectives and action plans, to develop Hong Kong into a bridgehead for the internationalisation of CM.”

The Government will capitalise on the characteristics and strengths of CM in Hong Kong and promote the high-quality and high-standard development of CM in Hong Kong on all fronts, with a view to contributing to overall national CM development, he added.