Good Afternoon. It is the third time that I come to the news conference held by the Information Office of the State Council in Hubei. I have briefed the press of the involvement and role of TCM in the last two news conferences and I am grateful to the journalists for your related reports. Your recognition and acknowledgement is enormously encouraging for us to continue our job.
With the changing epidemic situation, especially the pandemic occurrence, what can we share with the world in regard to the Chinese experience in TCM? It has attracted your tremendous attention.
As the COVID-19 being the global threat, the experts present and I hope, through more dialogue and communication, to share the story of the epidemic containment and treatment with TCM.
Secretary General Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the containment of COVID-19 by personal involvement in leadership, instruction, and deployment. He reiterated the integration of TCM and western medicine and the combination of TCM and western medicine drugs. With the leadership of CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core, implementing the deployment of the Leading Group of the CPC Central Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, required by Premier Li Keqiang and Comrade Wang Huning, the Central Steering Group led by Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, forcefully push forward the full and in-depth intervention TCM in the treatment. What has been done with TCM is as follows:
I. Pooling the best expertise. Over 4,900 TCM workers come to support Hubei from all over the country, accounting for 13% of the total medical workers coming from outside Hubei. Among the TCM workers, there are 3 academicians and hundreds of experts. The scale and strength of assistance is unprecedented.
II. Classifying the treatments. For mild and convalescent cases, TCM intervenes early. For severe and critical cases, the treatment protocol and technical plan were set up for the integrated treatment of TCM and western medicine. During the first days of the epidemic, when many suspected patients were waiting for their test results, TCM decoctions and drugs were given to slow down the progression of the disease and mitigate the pressure of the limited medical resources.
III. Screening effective drugs and formulas. In order to promote the technological research, we carried out observations on the clinical efficacy of the TCM drugs and formulas included in the 5th, 6th and 7th Diagnosis and Treatment Protocol. Till now, three drugs and three formulas proved effective, i.e. Jinhua Qinggan Granule, Lianhua Qingwen Capsule, Xuebijing Injection, Lung Cleansing and Detoxifying Decoction, Dampness Resolving and Detoxifying Decoction, and Lung Ventilating and Detoxifying Decoction.
It is widely acknowledged that TCM plays an important role and is one of the merits in the epidemic prevention and control. Here I would like to share some numbers. Among the confirmed COVID-19 cases, 74,187 were given TCM, accounting for 91.5% of the total; 61,449 in Hubei, accounting for 90.6% of the local cases. The observation on clinical efficacy shows that the effective rate of TCM exceeds 90%. TCM helps to relieve the symptoms, to reduce the progression from mild to severe and critical, to increase recovery rate, to decrease mortality rate and to bring the convalescent to normal body functions.
In the prevention and control of COVID-19, TCM doctors came on the scene as soon as possible. With their good will and good skills, they took actions and brought the advantage of TCM into full play, thus playing an important part in combating COVID-19.
TCM is the treasure of ancient Chinese science. It is a holistic medicine that integrates prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. It has a long history and is well known by all Chinese people. In the events of a major epidemic, we would find solutions from it. Such TCM classics as Sun Simiao’s Qian Jinfang , Zhang Zhongjing’s Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases, Wu Youke’s Treatise on Pestilence and Wu Jutong’s Item Differentiation of Warm Febrile Diseases systematically summarized the basic theories, clinical practice, classical formulas and technical methods of TCM in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. Those classics are the united wisdom of ancient Chinese in continuously exploring, cogitating and summarizing the laws of preventing and treating epidemic diseases. Researcher Tu Youyou was inspired by Ge Hong's Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies and discovered artemisinin, which has saved millions of lives worldwide, and she thus was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
TCM has also been effective in treating viral infections. In recent years, viral respiratory infections have been prevalent. TCM has also achieved significant results in the treatment of SARS, H1N1 and other diseases, and has accumulated rich experience in treating newly emerging infectious diseases. Studies have confirmed that TCM can improve the overall balance and immunity of the human body, while also inhibiting and killing viruses.
In the early days, there were no effective drugs and vaccines for the virus. We summed up the laws and experience of TCM in treating viral infectious diseases, carefully selected formulas from ancient TCM classics, combined with clinical practice, and formed the protocols of TCM treatment and integrated TCM and western medicine treatment of COVID-19, which become the important feature and advantage of Chinese protocol. We also selected effective formulas represented by "three drugs and three formulas". This fully proves that TCM, the precious heritage passed by our ancestors once again stands the test of time. It is worth cherishing, and is still useful, effective and of low cost.
The epidemic respects no borders. The virus is the common enemy of mankind. We are willing to share with all other countries these valuable experience and effective treatment methods we have accumulated. As Mr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of World Health Organization, said, the epidemic in China has been reversed, and China's anti-epidemic measures have achieved obvious outcome through practice and are worth learning from.
Here, through the press, we would like to say that TCM community in China is willing to further strengthen cooperation and exchanges with international colleagues, share experience of epidemic prevention and treatment, and provide effective TCM drugs, expert consultation and aid in our best abilities to the countries and regions in need. Thank you.
