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China to Strengthen Supervision on Ethnic Medicine
The Chinese government will take measures to strengthen the supervision on ethnic medicine, an official from the State Drug Administration said at a national meeting on medicine supervision which ended Friday in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province in southwest China.
Ren Dequan, deputy director of the administration, said that the move is aimed at controlling the number of ethnic medicine- producing enterprises to promote the healthy development of the sector.
China is home to many ethnic minorities, which have their own medical theories and therapies. So far, production of Mongolian, Ugyur, Tibetan and Dai medicines has already become substantial: In Guizhou alone, the output value of ethnic medicine reached one billion yuan (121 million US dollars) in 1999.
The loose appraisal and approval procedures for ethnic medicine enterprises have created a mess in some places, he said. One province, for example, approved production of 200 kinds of ethnic medicines in two years, leading to especially low quality of medicine.
The administration will take one year to straighten out the sector and issue new approval procedures. Those enterprises not up to the requirement will be closed or ordered to suspend production, according to Ren.
The meeting, the first one focusing on ethnic medicine since the administration was established in 1998, was attended by 50 representatives from 11 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.
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