Medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine
WILL THE GOVERNMENT COMPLY
WITH THE BASIC LAW?
The Hongkong Government seems set to ignore Article 145 of the Basic Law.
as
Article 145 specifies that the Government of the Hongkong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Hongkong will be known in 1997 -- shall promote and develop traditional Chinese medicine alongside Western medicine.
However, when TARGET spoke to the Government about this, a spokesperson said: "The Medical and Health Department (MHD) has no view on traditional Chinese medicine'.
The Policy Department for Government Medical Serv- ices, the Health and Welfare Branch of the Government Sec- retariat, does not appear to have any intention of introducing any legislation to accord practitioners of Chinese traditional medicine any kind of recognizable status.
Mr John Chambers, Director of the Health and Welfare Branch, told TARGET: 'At present, there are no plans to introduce legislation to regulate the practice of traditional Chinese medicine.
'I am unaware of any evidence to suggest that there is a need for this type of legislation.'
The MHD spokesperson said that its job is 'to promote and develop public health', though it seems to take no notice of the preference of the majority of Hongkong's population (60 percent, according to one survey) which regularly turns to traditional practitioners for relief from a wide variety of ailments.
Hongkong, unlike the People's Republic of China and the United States of America, has no recognized degree courses in the study of Chinese traditional medicine.
It is a cause of great concern amongst many practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine and specialists in this field that the current lack of legislation means that anybody of
Chinese race can claim to be a herbalist, make diagnoses, and concoct prescriptions to the possible detriment of the patient who has no legal recourse if there is a case of malpractice.
One senior lecturer at Chinese University explained that, in his view, the profession needs to have some kind of super- visory structure similar to the one which exists to govern Western medicine in the Territory.
According to one source, about 2 years ago specialists from the Chinese University were called upon to give evi- dence in court, concerning the death of a man apparently caused by an overdose of toad venom which was prescribed for him.
A spokesman for the Health and Welfare Branch stated that he had never heard of such a case.
As there is no way of defining a qualified practitioner in Hongkong, when patients consult a doctor of Chinese tradi- tional medicine they are at the mercy of Lady Luck as to whether or not the 'doctor' is able to diagnose and/or treat a person properly.
Many medical experts in Hongkong would like to see a system here similar to the one which operates in the Peoples' Republic of China.
The main thrust of the change would be to have recog- nized university degrees in Chinese traditional medicine, and also to introduce regulations so that only qualified persons would be able to practice medicine utilising traditional methods.
In China, university courses last between 5 years and 7 years, and include periods of internship as part of the qualification procedure.
One of the other areas which several medical experts feel needs legislation is that of the regulation of the medicines,
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