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Traditional Chinese Medicine Gets Popular in SE Asia: Thai Expert
In Southeast Asia, the over 5000 year-old traditional Chinese medicine is now getting more and more popular, while governments in the region gradually recognize its importance and begin to take promotive measures, an expert of the traditional Chinese medicine said Tuesday in Bangkok.
"The rapid development of the traditional Chinese medicine in the region shows that the age-old Chinese medical science is gaining greater international reputation and will play a more important role in the global medical market," Wong Zhongzhou, secretary-general of the Association of The Traditional Chinese Medicine of Thailand, told Xinhua in an interview.
The scientific value and business potential of the traditional Chinese medicine have been acknowledged and emphasized unanimously at a recent regional medical meeting held here earlier this month, he noted.
Wong, who acted as the secretary-general of the 6th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)'s Academic Conference on Traditional Chinese Medicine, said the participants agreed that the traditional Chinese medicine is now widely-accepted in Southeast Asia, and urged the region to further boost it.
The meeting, the biggest-ever and the most influential of its kind in the region, was attended by around 700 experts and scholars in the traditional Chinese medicine from the 10 ASEAN members: Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, The Philippines, Brunei Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar, as well as China's mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Australia and South Korea.
Wong pointed out that as the traditional Chinese medicine becomes more and more famous in the region, its market prospect has already been noticed by the investors.
"In recent years, the foreign investments in the traditional Chinese medicine in Southeast Asia have grown quickly, increasing continuously in both capital and projects," he stated.
Meanwhile, the general support from the governments in the region to develop the traditional Chinese medicine has also generated a new momentum, he said.
He recalled that earlier this year, Thai deputy prime minister and health minister Korn Dabbaransi have praised the traditional Chinese medicine as "an outstanding health-care science which has 5,000 years of experiences and practices," and declared that "it has been accepted by the majority of Thai people."
In July, the Thai government also announced a formal recognition of the legal status of the traditional Chinese medicine, and launched a cooperative project with China to build a regional training, research and treatment center of the traditional Chinese medicine in Thailand.
Wong said in Malaysia, the authorities decided to integrate the traditional Chinese medicine into the "mainstream of national medical system," and wished to offer all the Malaysians a combined medical service with both western medicine and the traditional Chinese medicine.
In Singapore, the health ministry supports the idea of forming a coordinating committee among the organizations of traditional Chinese medicine and provides policy protection for these organizations, he said.
Under supportive policies, the Association of Doctors of Singaporean Traditional Chinese Medicine has emerged as a leading force to promote the traditional Chinese medicine in the country, establishing several hospitals and research centers of the traditional Chinese medicine.
In other ASEAN countries, governments also start to take various measures to develop the traditional Chinese medicine, he said.
Wong, who owns one of over 400 traditional Chinese medicine stores in the capital city, said that his customers were mainly Thai Chinese, but now more and more Thais and foreigners come to his shop.
"Many people here used to believe the western medicine is the only way to cure diseases," he said, "however, now most patients who suffered from difficult and complicated illness or chronic diseases are seeking the help of the traditional Chinese medicine."
The numbers of traditional Chinese medicine shops are growing rapidly in Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia, he said in his shop, which is crowded by customers.
"As the traditional Chinese medicine thrives in Thailand, every kind of such medicine is now available here, including Chinese herbal medicine, Chinese synthesized medicine, precious Chinese medicine materials, Chinese tonic and other Chinese medicines," he said.
"The effect of the traditional Chinese medicine has been proved by countless treatments of every kind of illness, and it is the time to give it the relevant international status," the expert said.
However, he said although the traditional Chinese medicine has achieved a considerable success in Southeast Asia and other places around the world, lots of efforts still need to be taken to make the traditional Chinese medicine to better meet the modern scientific standards and the requirements of the international markets.
"There remains a huge task ahead to develop the over 5000 years-old traditional Chinese medicine into a fully-modernized science and business across the world," he said.
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