Hong Kong to send 20 TCM doctors to mainland China every year to get inpatient care training
- Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners to receive eight months of training on the mainland and another 16 months in Hong Kong as part of public scheme
- Scheme aims to improve practitioners’ professional skills as first specialised hospital expected to open end of 2025
Public hospitals in Hong Kong will send 20 traditional Chinese medicine doctors to mainland China every year to receive inpatient care training, as part of a government plan to enhance the practice’s role at local institutions.
As the city’s first specialised hospital is expected to begin operations by the end of 2025, Rowena Wong How-wan, the Hospital Authority’s chief manager in Chinese medicine, said on Tuesday that the scheme aimed to improve practitioners’ professional skills.
“We believe the arrangement would be very helpful in enhancing the practitioners’ practical experience and clinical skills,” Wong said.
So far, five practitioners have joined the authority’s Chinese Medicine Enhanced Inpatient Training Programme with the Greater Bay Area.
The two-year programme consists of eight months of training in a hospital on the mainland and another 16 months at Hong Kong’s public healthcare facilities.
The scheme that kicked off in April targets practitioners with at least eight years of experience and is part of the existing Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine Programme in public hospitals.