Next year, some 20 to 25 medical institutions, mostly district-level hospitals and neighborhood health centers, are to offer treatment and advice based on traditional Chinese medicine, local health officials said at a forum on preventative medicine in Shanghai at the weekend.

Therapies such as herbal soup, exercise, music therapy, acupuncture and massage will all be included.

The service is already available at the Yueyang Hospital of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, the Shuguang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, the TCM departments of Huashan and Changhai hospitals and the Beixinjing Neighborhood Health Center.

Shuguang, Yueyang and Beixinjing are part of a national pilot program.

"Investment in health protection is much more effective and cheaper than expenditure in treatment and has become one of key focuses of the Chinese health system," said Ji Weiping, director of Shanghai Health Bureau's TCM department. "Both the local health authorities and medical facilities are actively engaging in the new service."

The city decided to promote TCM-based health protection at district-based hospitals and health centers next year. Over 45 hospitals applied and the local health bureau is checking to see if they qualify.

"Through our investigations, most residents accept the effects of a healthy lifestyle and TCM-based intervention," Ji said. "But the effects of these methods are gradual and need long-term practice."

Many residents said they could not follow directions on exercise and diet over a long time.

"So we are encouraging neighborhood hospitals to promote the TCM service and have launched training for general practitioner there. GPs can visit homes to monitor patients and give advice," he said.

The bureau will evaluate the effects of the service by comparing people before and after treatment.

"The difficulty in promoting TCM is the difficulty in explaining its effects. We will use evidence such as health checkup data and medical evaluation to show how people can benefit from the TCM service," Ji said.

The districts of Xuhui, Changning, Zhabei and Hongkou have been approved as regions for TCM-featured neighborhood health services by the state TCM authorities.

(Shanghai Daily December 29, 2008)