Platforms combine needs for health with joy of tourism

[Photo/Xinhua]

As the idea of combining sightseeing with rehabilitation gains popularity, businesses and non-governmental organizations in the Chinese capital are turning it into reality.

The World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies and the China International Collaborating Center of Chinese Medicine have released their online platform for programming traditional Chinese medicine with tourism in the country, while Beijing itself is promoting a package of such services.

Chen Lixin, deputy secretary-general of the federation, said their online platform in 12 languages offers chain services mainly for rheumatism, fibromyalgia syndrome, periarthritis of the shoulder and treatment for children with cerebral palsy. Though mainly based in Beijing, “we also offer tailor-made services that meet patients’ specific needs elsewhere in the country and even overseas,” he said.

Applications can be made online for initial appraisal and ensuing detailed arrangement.

“We hope to turn this into one of the world’s most valuable rehabilitation platforms,” Chen said at a forum during the 2017 Beijing International Fair for Trade in Services, held from Sunday through today.

The federation is putting its own credit, cultivated through the decade, to ensure sound management on channels, standards and credit, said the federation’s Secretary-General Sang Binsheng. “Accreditation is one of the key links of our federation in standardizing and regulating services.”

The federation, with 253 member societies in 67 countries and regions, can link the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine worldwide. More than 30,000 TCM doctors are available for distinct medical and rehabilitation services.

Lin Nangy, publisher of The World and China Magazine, who helped release a tri-lingual book on standard translations of traditional Chinese medical terms in Hungarian and English, thanks to the efforts of former Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy, noted that Hungarian professionals are seeking cooperation with the federation in this field.

Local professionals in Hungary, which legalized TCM practices in 2013, are seeking to establish health centers featuring Chinese medicine in Budapest and other areas of the European country, Lin said.

Chen added that as an international institution, “the WFCMS feels it’s our duty to provide systematic services to avoid disorderly competition among domestic providers that could affect overseas patients’ confidence or confusion.”