The School of Chinese Medicine at Baptist University in Hong Kong
has set up an anti-Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
committee and a telephone hotline to offer medical consultation and
prescription.
It
has also set up a special SARS unit within one of its on-campus
clinics to offer medical consultation to the public.
Liu Liang, dean of Chinese medicine at the university, told
thepublic through a local radio interview Thursday that the
university is making full use of the ancient Chinese herbal
wisdomto help the public prevent the disease and offer
post-recovery health maintenance treatment.
"Ideally, we hope to help the public prevent SARS, help the
patients treat SARS and help the convalescents maintain health in
post-recovery treatment," Liu said.
However, under the current system of the Hospital Authority in Hong
Kong, only western medicine is in the position to treat the
SARS-hit patients at various public hospitals. But Leung said the
university is fighting for the use of Chinese medicine to combat
the new disease.
Clinical observations have shown that SARS patients who have
recovered are considerably physically weakened, and Chinese
medicine is in a better position to strengthen the body and help
convalescents regain energy quickly so that they can resume work,
he said.
The special unit is now in operation on the first floor of the
university's Chinese Medicine Building in Kowloon Tong in Kowloon
area.
When asked how Chinese medicine can become mainstream treatmentat
public hospitals, he said that due to the lack of a coordination
mechanism for the mixed use of Chinese and western medicine at
hospitals, Chinese medicine has so far not been incorporated into
the mainstream treatment.
"I
feel that since the HKSAR government has set the direction for the
development of traditional Chinese medicine and I have seen that a
lot of documents that have already outlined various models for
promoting cooperation of Chinese and western medicine here, it may
be just the matter of time before this will happen.
"Studying how this cooperation can be done will be essential for
both the development of Chinese medicine and the public hospital
system. From clinical experience as accumulated on the Chinese
mainland, both Chinese and western medicine can cooperate well,"
Liu said.
Liu said that (852) 3411-2905 or (852) 3411-2998 is the number to
call, should the public need to seek quick advice from the School
of Medicine of the university here over the telephone.
A
healthcare reform, initiated by Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee
Hwa in his 1997 and 1998 policy addresses, aims to better protect
public health by establishing a statutory frameworkwhich will
ultimately accord legal recognition of the medicine andregulate the
practice of it. Enditem
(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2003)
