A medical worker attends patients at the Accident & Emergency room of Queen Elizabeth Hospital at Jordan. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

A marriage of medical disciplines forged last year to help Hong Kong fight the pandemic is thriving. Health authorities now plan to extend and expand collaboration between Western and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners in public hospitals. The move is a sensible one because it will help a wider range of patients and enhance the city’s role as a bridge between two established healthcare approaches. Used for thousands of years, TCM relies on herbs, massage and exercise to restore balance, harmony and energy, while Western treatments rely on scientifically proven drugs to treat ailments.

The disciplines have been used together for some time on the mainland and increasingly in clinical settings around the world, including Hong Kong, where they became a potent mix in Covid-19 treatment. In March last year, three veteran TCM experts from the mainland arrived during the deadly fifth wave of the pandemic. They supported integrated care for patients and provided training for local professionals. They also tended to patients with severe Covid, strokes, cancer, musculoskeletal pain and respiratory ailments. Collaboration is now being widened to include oncology, neurology, orthopaedics and acupuncture specialities. The first apprenticeship scheme for local TCM practitioners to treat hospital patients will be expanded.

Developing Chinese medicine is a major initiative for the government. Hong Kong’s first Chinese medicine hospital is expected to begin operations in 2025. In his maiden policy address last year, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu pledged to deepen collaboration with the mainland in the sector. On Tuesday, a senior mainland health official called for Hong Kong to step up such efforts with other cities in the Greater Bay Area and to strengthen international exchanges.

Hong Kong has world-renowned schools to train doctors in Western medicine and a well-established TCM sector. The city’s health authorities are wise to seize opportunities that will draw on the deep experience and well-funded research facilities on the mainland. Expanding healthcare that taps the best of both worlds is an admirable goal.