While Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) workers have fought the novel coronavirus in the front line in Hubei province at the center of the pneumonia outbreak, formulas based on traditional medicine have also been helpful in treating the disease.

A TCM pharmacist prepares medicines for coronavirus patients at the No. 6 People’s Hospital of Hangzhou on Feb. 19, 2020. (Photo/Xinhua)

More than 3,100 medical workers from over 630 TCM hospitals and four batches of national TCM team made by 588 staff members have been sent to Hubei province.

By Feb. 14, the national TCM team had received a total of 248 patients infected with the novel coronavirus and suspected virus carriers, among whom 159 got better and 51 were discharged from the hospitals after it was confirmed that they recovered.

From the perspective of TCM, the novel coronavirus mainly attacks the lung and spleen of human beings, which makes it necessary to come up with prescriptions to tackle the coldness and humidity inside the body, according to Tong Xiaolin, chief researcher with China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CACMS).

On Jan. 27, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (NATCM) initiated a scientific project that put into clinical observation the prescription that could clean the lung and thus remove the poison from the body.

The prescription had been used on 804 patients by the end of Feb. 14 and proved to be effective in 94 percent of the cases.

As of Feb. 17, traditional medicine had been used in 60,107 pneumonia cases, 85.2 percent of the nation’s total, said Jiang Jian, an official with the NATCM.

A survey suggests that 80 percent of the pneumonia patients in severe conditions would like to receive both Chinese and Western medical treatment and 90 percent of the patients in a mild form of the disease are open to TCM intervention, said Huang Luqi, president of CACMS.