Chinese traditional medicines: Pakistanis to get health services under CPEC: report

Pakistanis will soon receive health services, based on Chinese traditional medicines under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), says an official report published in Chinese media. It was already agreed that Pakistan will also welcome hospitals and medical science R&D centers, with the progress of CPEC's related projects.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) could help medical professionals to investigate new cures for cancer and other life-threatening ailments. The two countries have also agreed to set up a TCM training and research facility in Islamabad. In this connection, a Chinese delegation, led by Vice Governor Sichuan Province Yang Xingping visited Pakistan's Ministry of National Health Services.
Sichuan is home to a large manufacturing base of TCM medicines, 1,800 hospitals, 78,000 clinics and 5,000 species of herbs. It is world famous, but a lack of regulatory oversight prevents TCM practitioners from winning respect from the international medical community, which favours Western-based practices.
TCM holds a rich 2,000 years history and a national treasure of China with its unique treatments that include the use of herbal medicines, acupuncture, massage and diets. Yet, critics assert TCM treatments have not undergone extensive clinical tests, while relying too much on animal testing and extracting medicinal ingredients from endangered species.
Accordingly, China's National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee has passed a law on TCM, which goes into effect July 1, 2017.
County-level governments and above are required to set up TCM institutes at publicly-funded hospitals, maternity wards and pediatric clinics. All practitioners must pass qualifying exams and Beijing would expand research and development (R&D) centers for TCM. The NPC is encouraging TCM doctors and researchers in China to collaborate with practitioners from around the world to place TCM on a more equal footing with Western medicine.
TCM has proven effective to combat some deadly diseases, including tuberculosis, which has infected one-third of the world's population, killing 1.8 million people last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Artemisinin, an ancient remedy, became known by the world when Chinese scientist Tu Youyou won the 2015 Nobel Prize in medicine for discoveries concerning the treatment of it against Malaria.