A medical seminar, organized by the Hong Kong Health Authority, was
held on Sunday to search after treatment for SARS with combination
of traditional Chinese and western medicine.
Two herbalist doctors from the Chinese mainland attended the
meeting and introduced their experience of herbal treatment as
supporting cure for the disease.
The herb doctors, who are from hospitals of neighboring Guangdong
Province, have joined cure practice on SARS and obtained special
experience in improving treatment via traditional Chinese
medicine.
Officials for the Authority said mainland herbalists' coming to
Hong Kong is a "medical breakthrough," which will enhance the
cooperation in containing the virus.
Director of the Authority Ko Wing-man said after the meeting that
Hong Kong and mainland doctors will firstly review together the
function and side-effect of the combined treatment, which will then
be put into clinical use with the improvement of the patients and
their doctors in charge.
In
light of the reports of effective treatment of herbal medicines,
there are suggestions that Hong Kong should borrow mainland
experiences of using herbal medicines. The Hospital Authority
decided last week to hand out instant Chinese medicine crystal
powder to the public hospitals' front-line medical staff to enable
them to guard against the SARS virus.
Linlin, a senior doctor of traditional Chinese medicine from
Guangdong province, said more works should be done to find
effective methods combining herb medicine with western
treatment.
"According to our experience in Guangdong, Chinese medicine has its
advantages in the treatment for SARS," she said.
Leung Ping-chung, professor of a Hong Kong university and expert on
Chinese medicine who supports the selective use of Chinese
medicine, said cooperation of Hong Kong, mainland medical
professionals will accelerate the research on treatment.
"I
believe the creative practice will give a good example for
combination of Chinese and western medicine and open the door wider
for medical cooperation in the future," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency May 5, 2003)