BEIJING — Chinese medical and health regulators have warned against any move to weaken the development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospitals for any reason in the course of forming consortia of healthcare institutions.

No TCM hospital shall be dissolved or merged as a result of the formation of any consortium of hospitals and clinics, according to a notice jointly issued by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the National Health Commission.

The document, available online July 29, calls for promoting TCM hospital-led, county-based close-knit medical communities featuring resource sharing and concerted efforts in service capacity improvement and talent development in a bid to enhance service capacities of county-based healthcare institutions.

The notice encourages establishing urban consortia that are led by prestigious TCM public hospitals and consist of community-based public healthcare institutions, nursing homes and rehabilitation agencies.

In forming consortia of healthcare institutions, urban major TCM public hospitals are urged to give priority to partnering with county-based TCM hospitals so as to help improve the latter's service capacity and level.

TCM healthcare institutions are an important choice of medical treatment for people.

According to a statistical report on the development of China's healthcare sector, the visits people paid to TCM hospitals and clinics in 2018 totaled 1.07 billion, up 5.2 percent from the previous year.