China issues plan for development of traditional Chinese medicine

The Chinese government has issued a new five-year plan for the development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), introducing comprehensive arrangements for its related work.

According to the plan released by the General Office of the State Council, by 2025, the capacity of health services provided by TCM will be significantly enhanced, while the policy and system for the high-quality development of TCM will be further improved, with its unique strengths in building a healthy China brought fully into play.

The plan sets out key tasks to be implemented during the period, such as building a sound TCM service system, fostering specialists in TCM, and developing a high-level system for inheritance, protection and innovation in TCM.

The plan also emphasizes combining TCM and modern science and integrating Chinese and Western medicine to better protect people's health.