China should wait no further to take "effective measures" to protect the centuries-old heritage of traditional Chinese medicine from "being blindly modernized," said a senior medical expert yesterday in Beijing.
Wang xudong, a professor with the Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, made the remarks while addressing a full meeting of the third annual session of the 10th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee.
Although several subjects such as acupuncture were booming in recent years, the traditional medicine as a whole failed to be "further developed and advanced," said Wang, a member of the CPPCC National Committee.
"Presently, the most urgent thing to do is to put the traditional iatric art under proper protection," he said.
He also cited the lack of proper protection on the intellectual property rights of traditional Chinese medical prescriptions, techniques and experiences as a major blame for the currently "unsatisfactory" situation of the industry.
Statistics show that the world's annual trade of traditional Chinese medicine totals US$40 billion. China only accounts for 3 to 6 percent of the total, largely lagging behind the 80 percent scored by Japan and South Korea, two obvious beneficiaries of the traditional Chinese medical roots.