Posted on November 12, 2012, Monday

KUCHING: Chinese medicine practitioners must put aside differences and work together closely as this is crucial to further develop the traditional medicine in the nation, said Deputy Minister of Works Datuk Yong Khoon Seng yesterday.

Addressing the closing ceremony of the 9th World Congress of Chinese Medicine at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here, he pointed out that Chinese medicine had great potential in the nation seeing that the government would soon be implementing the Traditional and Complementary Medicine (TCM) Bill 2012, which is now waiting to be gazetted by Dewan Negara.

Once the act is enforced, it will augur well for the development of traditional medicine as well as the Chinese medicine in Malaysia. I believe that medical tourism will flourish even further, said Yong, whose text of speech was read by Loh Yang Hui, the organising chairman of the congress.

The endorsement of the government to allow local universities to conduct courses on Chinese medicine is a good sign that the Chinese medicine had gained acknowledgment from the authorities.

Apart from that, the government also agrees to set up Chinese medicine units at public hospitals. All these show that Chinese medicine has great room in Malaysia. It is therefore vital for the concerned parties to have open mind when it comes to the effort to push the sector to a greater height, Yong said.

Yong felt that if both Chinese medicine and Western medicine practitioners could work together and share their clinical research, it would benefit more people by providing better treatment.

According to the statistic of the Health Ministry, there were nearly 9,000 traditional medicine physicians in Malaysia, he said, adding that about 69.4 per cent of Malaysians received treatment from TCM.

The congress was organised by World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies and hosted by Federation of Chinese Physicians and Medicine Dealers Associations of Malaysia.

The 10th World Congress of Chinese Medicine would be held in Santa Clara, California, USA on Sept 21 and 22 next year.

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Chinese medicine practitioners must work together – Yong