Future of Herbs
NPC deputies discuss the development of traditional Chinese medicine and its role in poverty alleviation
This was the seventh year Hu Jiqiang, President of Zhejiang Conba Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., attended the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing. As a deputy for two terms of the NPC, China’s top legislature, he has submitted suggestions related to the development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) each year.
At the Second Session of the 13th NPC held on March 5-15, every time Hu talked to the media or on panel discussions, he mentioned a TV series on China Central Television titled TCM Masters, and would elaborate on a scene that was adapted from a true story.
On February 25, 1929— Hu would recount every time— the Ministry of Health of the Republic of China (1912-49) proposed the abolition of traditional medicine, which was opposed by TCM doctors nationwide. After a month, the ministry issued an official notice revoking the abolition.
“The abolition initiative was put forward
when China was weak and didn’t have enough confidence in our traditions,” Hu said. “Now we have developed into the world’s second largest economy. Our TCM should also have developed, but the current TCM situation is not ideal.”
Independent evaluation
Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that in the past three years, the ratio occupied by TCM in the medical industry dropped from over 22 percent to 18 percent. “This is not consistent with the nation’s plan of making TCM development a national strategy,” Hu noted.
In 2016, the State Council, China’s cabinet, issued the Outline of the Healthy China 2030 Plan and the Outline of the Strategic Plan on the Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2016-30), setting the bar for the TCM ratio at 30 percent.
“Now we are getting further from that goal,” Hu lamented. “There have been many reasons leading to this situation. The current medical system in China is dominated by Western medicine and treatments, leaving limited space for TCM.”
Hu said that in the past three years, only one patented TCM drug has been approved by the National Medical Products Administration each year. For a giant country with more than 1,500 TCM pharmaceutical factories, this number is quite small. In comparison, in the last year alone, there were 49 new drugs approved for Western medicine.
“TCM and Western medicine follow different rules in treating diseases, but now we have adopted the evaluation system of Western medicine to TCM, which has hindered the development of TCM.”
Zhao Chao, an NPC deputy and Pr e s i d e n t of Shandong Buchang Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., echoed Hu’s remarks and suggested the government set up an independent evaluation system specifically for TCM.
“The debate on whether Western medicine or TCM is more effective has never ceased,” Zhao said. “Some extreme opinions about TCM have had some negative effects on its development. For example, if a patient takes a patented TCM drug and gets side effects on the liver, people will blame it all TCM herbal remedies.”
On the other hand, Zhao is delighted to see that the government has placed more importance on the development of TCM in recent years. The Law on Traditional Chinese Medicine, enacted on January 1, 2017, provided a sounder policy environment and legal basis for TCM development.
For Zhao, these decisions and plans have mapped out a grand blueprint that focuses on the full revitalization of TCM, even though there is still a lot to be done. “Although the government pledged to give equal attention and status to TCM and Western medicine, TCM has long been regarded as an assistant treatment for patients, especially for those with major diseases,” Zhao said. “There is still