The State Council approved a plan to revitalize traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) through a series of programs, according to a circular released on Feb 28.

By 2025, building a quality and efficient service system of TCM will be accelerated, the level of disease prevention and treatment of TCM will be significantly enhanced, and the service capacity of combining TCM and Western medicine will be strengthened, the circular said.

In order to expand high-quality medical resources with balanced layout, China will establish several national TCM centers, a batch of national advantageous medical departments, and 130 key hospitals with TCM characteristics, rehabilitation centers, and 35 bases for national TCM disease prevention and control, said the circular, adding that each county-level hospital should have two special TCM departments and a TCM technology promotion center.

With efforts to optimize coordination of TCM and Western medicine for disease prevention and control, TCM should be applied for the first time in prevention and control of infectious diseases and public health emergency response, and be involved in the whole process of disease prevention, and treatment and recovery, according to the circular.

The circular highlighted the capacity of TCM in response to the aging population, and its role in treating chronic, major and stubborn diseases for senior citizens, and rehabilitation.

In addition, a comprehensive statistics system for TCM will be built, and smart TCM hospitals will be constructed to provide convenient services.

A long-term mechanism coordinating TCM and Western medicine will be set up to improve clinical treatment between TCM and Western medicine. To achieve that, 50 flagship hospitals will be built, the circular said.

To enhance the efficiency of clinical treatment for major and stubborn diseases, medical resources in TCM and Western medicine should be integrated to achieve complementary advantages, the circular said.

In the future, a series of national key laboratories involving multidisciplinary-integrated TCM, national medical research centers, and 30 national inheritance and innovation centers of TCM will be built.

The nation will also strengthen the protection of the originality and reproducibility of ancient TCM books to improve their utilization and inheritance.

While building the China Academy of Chinese Medical Science as a core TCM innovation base, the circular also stressed more input in talent and platform building.

To that end, 1,200 personnel will be trained in TCM clinical treatment, ethnic medicine, and TCM study, and around 7,500 students will be enrolled free of tuition to serve rural areas.

The nation will also accelerate the seed industry of Chinese medicine and promote standards to improve the quality of tablets and prepared medicines.

International trade and cooperation on epidemic control of TCM are also stressed.