China will accelerate the development of traditional minority medicine, a top official with the Ministry of Health said. By the end of last year, a total of 15 ethnic groups including Tibetans, Mongolians and Uygur minorities had established 195 hospitals that treated patients with their minority medicines, She Jing, vice-health minister and director of SATCM said.

She vowed to enhance the service capabilities of minority medical organizations and strengthen the training of ethnic professionals.

Furthermore, she said SATCM would establish a number of laboratories for Mongolian, Tibetan and Uygur minority medical research institutes.

She said she believed ethnic medicine was an inexpensive solution to treat diseases among minority people. The medical fee for ethnic medical treatment was only half that of TCM hospitals and one third of Western medical institutions, according to She.

The central government invested more than 73 million yuan (9.35 million U.S. dollars) from 2001 to 2005 on construction of minority medical organizations.

Local governments also strengthened investment in minority medicine. For example, the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region invested nearly 80 million yuan (9.9 million dollars) in expanding five Tibetan hospitals in the region.

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region also increased annual Mongolian medicine funds from 1 million yuan (123,000 dollars) to 20 million yuan (2.5 million dollars).

Source:佚名