Shenzhen has put traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) development on the fast track since China’s Law on TCM went into effect in 2017. The city is currently home to 1,208 TCM institutions, according to the city’s health commission.
After the Law on TCM was put into force, Shenzhen quickly ramped up efforts to support the law’s implementation, so that residents can enjoy better TCM services in the city.
Over the past five years, Shenzhen has given strong support to include TCM institutions into the city’s medical insurance system. At present, 655 qualified TCM institutions, including 578 private ones, have been included in the medical insurance system, an increase of 739% compared with 2017.
Shenzhen has also piloted package charge for outpatient TCM diagnosis and treatment items and medications, as well as inpatient comprehensive diagnosis and treatment services. Meanwhile, 71 kinds of TCM treatment such as acupuncture is given a 70% discount in community health institutions.
Financial investment in public TCM hospitals has also been increased over the past five years, up from 1.36 billion yuan (US$203 million) in 2017 to 2.98 billion yuan in 2021.
According to the city’s health commission, Shenzhen currently has a total of 1,208 TCM institutions, including 13 TCM hospitals, and has 7,327 beds and 6,569 TCM practitioners.
The city has flexibly introduced 14 national TCM masters and a batch of renowned TCM practitioners across the country. It has cultivated over 160 famous TCM practitioners at the provincial and municipal levels, established 82 TCM inheritance studios, and initiated 12 batches of master-apprentice projects.
To promote exchanges of TCM talents in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, four municipal public TCM institutions have recruited six Hong Kong TCM practitioners.
Shenzhen has also carried out in-depth research on the protection of TCM intellectual property rights and strengthened the protection of characteristic technologies. At present, 17 characteristic technologies such as Pingle Guo’s orthopedics have become representative projects of TCM intangible cultural heritage.