Establish and Perfect a Collaboration Mechanism between TCM and Western Medicine to Win the Fight against COVID-19
In the Spring Festival Holidays of 2020, COVID-19 suddenly hit Wuhan, Hubei, and spread to other provinces across the country. CPC Central Committee and the State Council attached great importance to the integration of TCM in the prevention and control of the epidemic. General Secretary Xi Jinping reiterated the need to attach equal importance to TCM and western medicine and implement integrated TCM and western medicine treatment at the meeting of Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee and when he investigated the prevention and control of the epidemic in Beijing. Premier Li Keqiang chaired a number of meetings of the Leading Group of the CPC Central Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, and made deployments for the treatment of patients with integrated TCM and Western medicine. Vice Premier Sun Chunlan repeatedly made clear requirements for the in-depth integration of Chinese medicine in treatment.
Viewing the epidemic as an order, NATCM takes it as a mandate to prevent and control it. On January 21st, the Party Leadership Group of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine held a meeting to convey the important directions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on COVID-19, the important instructions of Premier Li Keqiang and the speech of Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, and studied the measures to implement the epidemic prevention and control deployment.
NATCM set up a leading group of joint prevention and control, which had two leaders: the Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and the Commissioner, and held 18 meetings (as of Feb 11th). There are 6 working groups and expert groups under the leading group. Through leading group meetings and a daily routine meeting system, the leading group conveyed the spirit from CPC Central Committee, immediately studied related issues, and strengthened work scheduling. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, NATCM has formulated and issued the Work Plan of NATCM for Joint Prevention and Control of COVOD-19, and held a national video conference on the prevention and control of epidemic participated by TCM institutions. A working group was dispatched to the frontline to strengthen the overall coordination of the integration of TCM in the prevention and control work in Wuhan, Hubei. NATCM has fully engaged in the working mechanism of joint prevention and control of the State Council, and coordinated with all the special groups and expert groups.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, TCM and western medicine have worked together, bringing their respective advantages in joint prevention and control of the epidemic and medical treatment, and have achieved good results. A few days ago, National Health Commission and National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine jointly issued Notice on Establishing and Improving a Cooperative Mechanism of TCM and Western Medicine in the Prevention and Control of Such Infectious Diseases as COVID-19, further strengthening the joint diagnosis and treatment of TCM and Western Medicine, formulating and improving the program of integrated TCM and western medicine treatment, so to ensure patients of timely use of TCM, to increase hospitalization and recovery rate, to reduce infection and mortality rate, and to continuously improve the clinical treatment efficacy.
