The Chinese Medicine Pharmacy Development Act (中醫藥發展法) was enacted in 2019 to bolster talent cultivation in Chinese medicine and pharmacy, enhance the quality of Chinese medicine healthcare, and protect the health and well-being of all nationals. Establishing a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) specialist system (中醫專科醫師制度) is an important policy for implementing the above goals.
There are more than 20 academic groups related to TCM in Taiwan, all of which are committed to specific professional learning and development to provide patients with high-quality clinical care.
The mission of the Taiwan Association of Traditional Chinese Internal Medicine, which was established on July 12, 1998, is to “carry forward traditional Chinese medicine, strengthen research on Chinese internal medicine, and advance with the times, combined with modern medicine, to promote the well-being of all nationals.” Its members are committed to continuous learning and improvement in the field of traditional Chinese internal medicine to provide professional treatment for patients with internal diseases.
Chingguan Yihau (清冠一號), or NRICM101, is a traditional Chinese medicine developed by the National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine to treat COVID-19. It was the best evidence of specialized treatment in Chinese internal medicine.
Taiwan has 23 ministry-defined specialties for Western physicians and 11 ministry-defined specialties for dentists. However, there is no ministry-defined specialty for Chinese medicine practitioners, which runs counter to the idea of cultivating Chinese medicine talent and improving the quality of care stipulated in the Chinese Medicine Pharmacy Development Act.
At present, the only training for TCM practitioners is post-graduate general medical training similar to that of Western physicians and dentists, which focuses on two years of training to enable doctors to diagnose, treat and care for common and general diseases. There is a lack of follow-up specialist training for doctors-in-training to receive complete clinical professional training and continuous updates on the latest medical knowledge like those of Western doctors and dentists. This is not in line with the goal of improving the quality of TCM to promote the public’s well-being.
Setting up a TCM specialist training system would be a big step forward in the development of TCM and pharmacology in Taiwan. The TCM community can learn from the well-developed specialist system of Western doctors and dentists, and provide complete specialist training for resident doctors to improve the quality of TCM care.
A TCM specialist system is a policy that would benefit the country and the public. Well-intentioned politicians and doctors should work together to make it happen as soon as possible.
Hung Yu-chiang is the director of the Taiwan Association of Traditional Chinese Internal Medicine.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
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