China expands pediatric services in TCM hospitals

All tertiary public traditional Chinese medicine hospitals and at least 80 percent of secondary-level public TCM hospitals will be required to establish pediatric departments by the end of November, an official at the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine said on Tuesday.

The nation follows a three-tier hospital structure, with tertiary hospitals at the highest level.

Ouyang Bo, deputy director of the administration's department of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine and ethnic group medicine, said that by the end of 2023, about 96 percent of tertiary TCM hospitals and 72 percent of secondary ones set up pediatric clinics.

The expansion of pediatric services in TCM hospitals is part of a broader two-year initiative set to run through 2027 to enhance pediatric healthcare nationwide.

Ouyang said that the administration has also released a series of diagnosis and efficacy evaluation standards, including guidelines targeting adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and cough variant asthma in children.

In addition, the administration has supported 23 cities in piloting TCM interventions to curb obesity in children and adolescents, as well as 26 cities and three provinces in piloting use of TCM therapies to tackle scoliosis.

A pilot program that uses 60 TCM treatments to combat childhood myopia has yielded positive outcomes, she added.

"Last year, 25.97 million toddlers aged 3 and under accessed TCM services through receiving dietary guidance and recommendations on daily activities," she said.

Since 2023, four pediatric TCM drugs have obtained market approval, she added.

Ouyang said that the administration will continue to advance pilot projects focusing on controlling myopia, obesity, and scoliosis, strengthen nurturing TCM pediatric experts and ramping up research into TCM pediatric drugs.