This year's Government Work Report proposes that "for the people's physical and mental health and family well-being, we must unswervingly advance healthcare reform and solve this global challenge with Chinese approaches," and "support the development of traditional Chinese medicine and ethnic minority medicine." Wang Guoqiang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Vice Minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, and Director of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, expressed deep resonance with this. In an exclusive interview with our reporter, he stated:
● Traditional Chinese medicine is rooted in the living environment, lifestyle, and cultural psychology of the Chinese people. It represents the accumulation of the Chinese nation's experience in disease prevention and treatment, as well as the crystallization of wisdom regarding life and health.
● Traditional Chinese medicine is a distinctive feature of China's medical system and an important healthcare resource. We must resolutely develop traditional Chinese medicine and give full play to its role in deepening healthcare reform.
● Both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine share the important mission of safeguarding and enhancing people's health, making this a notable characteristic of China's healthcare sector.
"Over the past four years of deepening healthcare reform, traditional Chinese medicine has been fully involved and has played an increasingly important role in the construction of China's basic healthcare system," said Wang Guoqiang. He noted that Premier Li Keqiang's Government Work Report, which proposes solving the challenges of healthcare reform with Chinese approaches, has infused new meaning and momentum into "supporting the development of traditional Chinese medicine and ethnic minority medicine," which is both inspiring and encouraging.
"The Chinese approach cannot be separated from traditional Chinese medicine," he emphasized. For the traditional Chinese medicine industry, including ethnic minority medicine, it is essential to boost morale, fully leverage its unique advantages, and highlight the status and role of traditional Chinese medicine through deep participation in healthcare reform.
"National Conditions Determine the Chinese Approach"
"China's healthcare reform must proceed from the national conditions," Wang Guoqiang stated. A good healthcare system must align with the country's development level, match its comprehensive strength, respond to the people's service needs, and continuously adjust and improve with economic and social development. "A single move can affect the entire situation," he admitted. "Healthcare reform is a global challenge." Even in developed countries in Europe and America, although healthcare security systems were established earlier, they are still undergoing continuous reform and exploration.
"China is a large country with limited resources to manage healthcare." Although China's comprehensive national strength has rapidly increased and people's living standards have significantly improved since the reform and opening-up, the country remains in the primary stage of socialist construction. Realistic national conditions include unbalanced regional development, significant urban-rural disparities, and relatively insufficient per capita financial resources. As the world's largest developing country, healthcare reform in China is more difficult and complex.
"Foreign healthcare systems and reform experiences can be used for reference but should not be copied outright," Wang Guoqiang believes. China's healthcare reform has entered a deep-water zone and a critical period. Further exploration and deepening of healthcare reform are closely related to safeguarding and improving people's livelihoods, transforming the economic growth model, and promoting economic and social development. The strategic direction is clear, and the reform prospects are bright. However, it is essential to adhere to the national conditions, focus on the current situation, achieve breakthroughs in key areas, and advance in stages. "The national conditions of socialism with Chinese characteristics determine the Chinese approach to healthcare reform. We should build strategic confidence and strengthen confidence in our methods."
"China's Healthcare Reform Advantage Lies in Traditional Chinese Medicine"
Wang Guoqiang stated that the Premier's proposal in the work report to "support the development of traditional Chinese medicine and ethnic minority medicine" is consistent with the government work reports of previous years. It reiterates the importance of giving full play to the role of traditional Chinese medicine and ethnic minority medicine in disease prevention and treatment. This is also a key connotation of the "Chinese approach" to deepening healthcare reform, fully aligning with China's actual national conditions and the current state of development in both the healthcare sector and traditional Chinese medicine.
"Traditional Chinese medicine has the characteristic advantages of being simple, convenient, effective, and affordable." China's economic foundation is weak, development is unbalanced, and the healthcare security foundation is relatively poor. Traditional Chinese medicine plays a prominent role in alleviating "difficulty and high cost in accessing medical services." "China is the only country in the world that possesses both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine as healthcare means, and this is reflected in healthcare reform and medical insurance."
Traditional Chinese medicine, having undergone thousands of years of practice, inheritance, and development, is rooted in the living environment, lifestyle, and cultural psychology of the Chinese people. It represents the accumulation of the Chinese nation's experience in disease prevention and treatment and the crystallization of wisdom regarding life and health. As an effective means of preventing and treating diseases, traditional Chinese medicine's methods of understanding diseases and its treatment concepts are consistent with the profound changes in contemporary health concepts and the trends in the transformation of medical models. The concepts of traditional Chinese medicine, such as "harmony between man and nature," "people-oriented," "treatment based on syndrome differentiation," "great physicians with profound sincerity," "personalized diagnosis and treatment," "prevention over treatment," and "preventive treatment of disease," along with its diverse natural medicines and non-drug therapies, are gaining increasingly widespread recognition around the world today.
Wang Guoqiang believes that traditional Chinese medicine will play a unique role in the areas emphasized in the Premier's report, such as "improving the capacity to prevent and treat major infectious diseases, chronic diseases, occupational diseases, and endemic diseases." Additionally, adapting to the diversification of health needs, traditional Chinese medicine also has unique advantages in health preservation, harmonizing body and mind, elderly care and rehabilitation, and prolonging life. "Both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine share the important mission of safeguarding and enhancing people's health, making this a notable characteristic of China's healthcare sector."
"Traditional Chinese Medicine Must Deeply Participate in Healthcare Reform"
In deepening healthcare reform, the attention and support given to traditional Chinese medicine and ethnic minority medicine by the Party Central Committee and the State Council are unprecedented. The status of traditional Chinese medicine in the country's economic and social development has been further elevated, and its advantages as one of the "five major resources" in health, science and technology, economy, culture, and ecology have gained broad recognition.
"Traditional Chinese medicine's participation in healthcare reform has made positive progress," Wang Guoqiang said. In recent years, the traditional Chinese medicine system has established a working mechanism of "holistic thinking, systematic operation, interaction among three perspectives, integration of six aspects, overall coordination, and scientific development." It has fully participated in deepening healthcare reform, forming a new integrated development pattern in areas such as traditional Chinese medical services, preventive healthcare, talent cultivation, technological innovation, industrial development, cultural development, and overseas expansion.
However, systemic, institutional, and policy issues that restrict the development of traditional Chinese medicine remain prominent. The development of traditional Chinese medicine also faces new contradictions, difficulties, and challenges. These include insufficient utilization of its characteristic advantages, inadequate inheritance, lack of innovation, a shortage of traditional Chinese medicine talents, disconnection between talent cultivation and clinical needs, lack of coordination between traditional Chinese medicine and herbal medicine development, and lagging legislation in traditional Chinese medicine. All these issues urgently require further deepening of reforms. In this regard, Wang Guoqiang stated that further efforts should be made in top-level design, "incorporating the development of traditional Chinese medicine into the national strategy." Within the broader context of the country's economic and social development, policies and mechanisms for the development of traditional Chinese medicine should be improved to vigorously promote its development and enable it to play a role in deepening healthcare reform.
At the macro level, efforts should focus on establishing and improving organizational leadership and overall coordination mechanisms for the development of traditional Chinese medicine. At the meso level, it is essential to establish and improve management policies for traditional Chinese medicine services, incentive policies for provision and utilization, financial subsidy systems, "bundled payment" medical insurance policies, financing policies for career development, and preferential policies for industrial development. At the micro level, all policy mechanisms that promote the development of traditional Chinese medicine should be translated into concrete measures to serve the people, continuously meeting their practical needs for traditional Chinese medicine services.
"The ultimate goal of healthcare reform is, as Premier Li Keqiang emphasized, 'for the people's physical and mental health and family well-being'," Wang Guoqiang stated. Traditional Chinese medicine is a distinctive feature of China's medical system and an important healthcare resource. We must resolutely develop traditional Chinese medicine and give full play to its role in deepening healthcare reform. "We must adhere to equal emphasis on traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine and solve this global challenge with Chinese approaches." (Ren Zhuang)
