Shanghai eyes hospital clusters to boost TCM

SHANGHAI plans to establish four traditional Chinese medicine clusters around the city to provide safer, better and more convenient services.

TCM has proved to be helpful throughout the coronavirus prevention and treatment period and Premier Li Keqiang has stressed the importance to develop TCM in this year’s government work report.

Four city-level TCM hospitals are to cooperate with city-level general hospitals, specialized hospitals and other medical institutions to improve the efficiency of TCM services, Shanghai Health Commission said yesterday.

Shuguang Hospital will work with the Pudong New Area and Huangpu, Baoshan and Songjiang districts to form the East Shanghai TCM Alliance.

Longhua Hospital will cooperate with Xuhui, Changning, Minhang, Fengxian and Jinshan districts to form the South Shanghai TCM Alliance.

The Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine will form the

West Shanghai TCM Alliance with Jing’an, Putuo, Jiading and Qingpu districts.

The North Shanghai TCM Alliance will be led by Yueyang Hospital and include hospitals in Hongkou, Yangpu and Chongming districts.

According to the plan, Shanghai will not only set up these TCM alliances with general hospitals, but also facilitate the establishment of another alliance for specialized TCM hospitals to establish the framework of cooperation. The four alliances and the specialized alliance will complement each other and provide support to district hospitals.

Meanwhile, district TCM hospitals as well as TCM clinical departments at general hospitals can support community health centers with TCM services to meet residents’ needs related to common diseases, frequently occurring ailments, chronic diseases and rehabilitation.

Next year, Shanghai will explore a clearer coordination mechanism for running the TCM alliances and specify the

major tasks and key systems to guarantee their operation.

The construction of the alliances will be further advanced

from 2022 with improvements in the management, operation and incentive mechanisms, the plan shows.

Shanghai will promote the integration and sharing of medical resources among the alliances and establish unified management platforms. It also plans to work out a

centralized management platform for the supply of TCM herbs and drugs.

The sharing of online information and electronic medical records will also be realized on the basis of local health platforms such as the city’s health information site and “health cloud” mobile application, along with remote training given to medical workers and remote medical treatment for patients.