TCM practitioners could have a role in Healthier SG: Ong Ye Kung

Ministry also exploring inclusion of some treatments in public clinics and hospitals

- Nadine Chua

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners may in future partner Western doctors under an expanded Healthier SG programme.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) is also exploring how to "carefully incorporate" certain TCM treatments into public clinics and hospitals, with patients able to get subsidies for such treatments, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Oct 27.

In a speech setting out his vision for the TCM sector, Mr Ong added that including such treatments in mainstream healthcare should be selective and based on evidence.

"We should avoid the mindset or mentality of wholesale inclusion or wholesale rejection of TCM. That would be most unwise. This is a delicate process of trying to integrate and synergise between two fundamentally different systems, in origins and historical developments," he said.

Research has also yielded "a lot of clinical evidence" on the efficacy of various TCM treatments, and these findings can be used to design experiments at public healthcare institutions that aim to achieve this synergy, he added.

Speaking at the Public Free Clinic Society's 50th anniversary celebration at Orchard Hotel, Mr Ong also elaborated on the role he envisions for TCM practitioners in Healthier SG, the national preventive healthcare scheme launched in July 2023. The scheme encourages people to register with a family clinic to take personalised steps towards better health.