Interview: Use of Chinese Medicine for SARS Treatment Urged in HK

Home>>Life

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Interview: Use of Chinese Medicine for SARS Treatment Urged in HK

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

The Hong Kong Baptist University has again urged the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government to consider combining traditional Chinese medicine with western medicine to treat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) patients here.

In a letter to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa over the weekend, Li Zhizhong, a visiting scholar of the university and member of Institute of China's National Traditional Chinese Medicine said that Vice Chancellor of Baptist University Ng Ching Fai has been working hard to persuade the Hospital Authority the incoporation of Chinese medicine into Hong Kong's public hospital treatment.

In an interview with Xinhua Tuesday, Albert W. N. Leung, acting dean of the School of Chinese Medicine of Baptist University stressed that the clinical success of curing SARS patients by combined treatment at Guangdong Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital makes it crystal clear that Chinese medicine is efficacious in treating SARS.

"As SARS patients are dying, the HKSAR Hospital Authority should speedily consider working together with traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of SARS patients," he stressed.

Leung's remarks came after Ko Wing Man, deputy director in charge of operations and public affairs of the HKSAR Hospital Authority admitted on local government radio Monday that the effectiveness of western medicine now being applied to SARS patients is waning not just in Hong Kong, but in other places in the world as well.

Ko distinctly told the program host on-air that other avenues needed to be found.

And in a separate letter already sent to Ko Wing Man, a facsimile of which has been obtained by Xinhua, Li Zhizhong requested the possibility for the HKSAR Hospital Authority "to allow SARS patients to be diagnosed by Chinese medicine herbalists and to be given prescriptions on the condition that the quality of the Chinese medicine concerned is guaranteed."

Li also requested Ko if it is possible for the HKSAR Hospital Authority "to allow the Chinese medicine herbalists to carry out pure clinical observations, even if the patients are not under Chinese medicine treatment."

Hong Kong Baptist University has close connections with the Guangdong Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital partly because the former's senior students undertake their internship at the latter and partly because the dean of the School of Chinese Medicine of Baptist University formerly taught at the latter, according to Ranic Leung, student representative member of the 9-person anti-SARS committee recently set up by the School of Chinese Medicine of Baptist University.

According to a copy of clinical observations Baptist University has obtained from the Guangdong province hospital, the use of Chinese medicine can "obviously reduce SARS symptoms, and "is anti-inflammatory and helps reduce debris."

It said "early intervention by Chinese medicine can also halt pathological development," while "the combined treatment of Chinese and western medicine can reduce the period of pyrexia and hospital treatment."

It also said that the combined treatment can also help reduce complications found in using western medicine only.

Stephen Kwong, another student representative member of the anti-SARS committee also told Xinhua that the Chinese medicine used can also reduce the dampness toxins which are the pathogens of SARS.

Questions?Comments? Click here

TCM Recipe to Prevent SARS

Baptist University Fights SARS with Chinese Medicine

WHO Experts Examining Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment for SARS

>> Full Coverage

China to Send Lunar-Probe Satellite in 3 Years: Expert ( 2 Messages)

Analysis: Germany Softening Anti-War Tone as It Enters UN Security Council ( 3 Messages)

Chinese Premier Pledges to Improve SARS Control ( 2 Messages)

China Launches First "Indigenous" Management Theory ( 9 Messages)

China Protects Safety of People from Overseas ( 3 Messages)