TCM Covid drive hits fourth gear

A seven-strong delegation of traditional Chinese medicine experts from the mainland has arrived to help the SAR fight the fifth wave.

Six of the experts - led by the head of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine's treatment group, Tong Xiaolin - arrived via the Shenzhen Bay Port crossing yesterday, while the seventh, Guangdong Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine deputy director Zhang Zhongde - had already arrived this month.

This fourth expert delegation was welcomed by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and health officials such as Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee and Hospital Authority chairman Henry Fan Hung-ling.

Lam said the team would enable Hong Kong to learn from the mainland's experiences with Covid-19.

The experts will go to work on patients at the Asia World-Expo community treatment facility, along with some 20 TCM experts who are already here. A decision will be made later on deployments to other hospitals.

"Traditional Chinese medicine will be very effective in reducing severe illness and deaths," Lam said.

She added that the SAR has already upped use of Chinese medicine for Covid-19 patients. Apart from face-to-face medical consultations, clinics have also provided remote telemedicine services for patients under isolation.

The experts are also expected to meet up with local TCM practitioners to discuss the future development of Chinese medicine in the SAR, Lam said.

Tong, who was deployed to Wuhan at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak in early 2020, said Chinese medicine has an edge in treating Covid patients.

He said the delegation will visit makeshift hospitals, elderly care homes and meet Hong Kong administrative and medical-sector officials to develop a better understanding of the SAR's present problems coping with the fifth wave.

"Elderly patients in Hong Kong have more severe illnesses and a higher death rate," Tong said.

"Chinese medicine has its advantages, especially in treating elderly patients with chronic diseases, because it not only targets the coronavirus but also helps treat their other illnesses."

Tong also said those experts here now had also helped combat Covid outbreaks in Henan and Tianjin, and that Chinese medicine proved effective in treating patients there.