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Press Release

Report of the Preparatory Committee on Chinese Medicine

April 24, 1997

The following is issued on behalf of the Preparatory Committee on Chinese Medicine:

In a report to the Government, the Preparatory Committee on Chinese Medicine (PCCM) recommended that a statutory Council on Chinese Medicine be set up to provide for the regulation, promotion and development of Chinese Medicine (CM) in Hong Kong.

The proposed Council on Chinese Medicine, to be composed mainly of representatives of the CM profession and trade, would be supported by a Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board and a Chinese Medicines Board in carrying out its regulatory work.

Introducing the recommendations at a press conference on 24.4.97, Chairman of PCCM, Dr Daniel C W Tse said: "The objectives of the proposals are to safeguard public health and consumers' rights by ensuring the professional standard of the CM trade."

"However, a gradual approach in implementation should be adopted to avoid affecting the livelihood of people already in the profession and trade."

Chairman of PCCM's Chinese Medicine Practitioners Sub-committee, Mr Cheung Tai-chiu said: "In the long run, CM practitioners will be required to be registered before they are allowed to practise."

"Those who wish to be registered should pass the universal licensing examination."

However, for the purpose of the initial registration exercise, the registration criteria as recommended by PCCM are:-

  • CM practitioners with 10 years or more practising experience in Hong Kong as at 1 January 1995 could be exempted from the universal licensing examination;
  • CM practitioners with five to nine years practising experience in Hong Kong as at 1 January 1995 and a recognised CM qualification could be exempted from the universal licensing examination;
  • CM practitioners with five to nine years practising experience in Hong Kong as at 1 January 1995 but without a recognised CM qualification could be exempted from the universal licensing examination but should pass an assessment test;
  • CM practitioners with less than five years practising experience in Hong Kong as at 1 January 1995 and a recognised CM qualification could be exempted from the universal licensing examination but should pass an assessment test;
  • CM practitioners with less than five years practising experience in Hong Kong as at 1 January 1995 but without a recognised CM qualification should pass the universal licensing examination.

He stressed that in order to ensure the professional standard of those practitioners to be registered through these channels, the qualifying periods of practising experience should be correspondingly extended if a cut-off date other than 1 January 1995 was to be adopted for the initial registration exercise.

Meanwhile, existing CM practitioners who did not fulfil the registration criteria might continue to practise but they were expected to undergo further training with the ultimate aim of sitting for the universal licensing examination.

The PCCM report also recommended the regulation of the CM trade by way of registration.

"The main objectives of regulating Chinese medicines are to ensure the proper use of potent/toxic herbs, and to ensure the safety, quality and efficacy of proprietary Chinese medicine," Chairman of PCCM's Chinese Medicine Sub-Committee, Mr Tam Ling-kwan said.

Under the proposed system, the distribution and retailing of certain specified Chinese herbs would be regulated and a registration system for proprietary Chinese medicine would be introduced.

"Alongside the proposed regulation of CM, the PCCM is also concerned on its further development and has hence proposed to look into the incorporation of CM into the healthcare system in Hong Kong; to provide full-time undergraduate CM courses; and to further promote researches on CM," Dr Tse added.

Members of the PCCM and its two sub-committees had been re-appointed by the Secretary for Health and Welfare for a further period of two years.

Copies of the report could be obtained at various District Offices and the PCCM Secretariat.

The report would also be distributed to CM practitioners and members of CM trade through CM associations.

Suggestions should be made in writing to the PCCM Secretariat at 1st Floor, Shun Feng International Centre, 182 Queen's Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong.

22 March 2007