Chinese Medicine Board builds partnerships in China to help protect the public

05 Jun 2017

New regulatory partnerships have been developed between Australian and Chinese health practitioner regulators that will help protect the public who receive care from Chinese medicine practitioners.

A delegation from the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia (the Board) built relationships with fellow, international Chinese medicine regulators while in China. The trip to China was made possible due to funding support from the Australia-China Council (ACC) Grants Program.

‘This trip has been a great success. We have established strong relationships that will have positive impact for patients and practitioners of Chinese medicine,’ Board Chair, Professor Charlie Xue, said.

The Chinese authorities commended Australia for leading the way in the Western world by comprehensively regulating Chinese medicine practitioners and welcomed the work of the Board for practitioners working in Australia.

In 2015/16 there were 4,762 registered Chinese medicine practitioners in Australia, a growth of 6 per cent from 2014/15.

‘The Australian and Chinese regulatory authorities share a common interest in developing evidence-based practice,’ Professor Xue said.

‘Our discussions in China help lay the foundation for future opportunities in the region including strengthening our regulatory partnerships, opportunities for research and for progressing practitioner education in Chinese medicine.’

Professor Xue said one outcome of the visit was increased information sharing in improving how complaints are managed, how practitioners are registered and in the development of standards.

‘The Board looks forward to continuing to work with these partners to protect the public. It became clear that we all face very similar challenges and while the context varies greatly, these international connections can only help with setting standards which over time will become more consistent,’ he said.

A report about the China trip will be included in the Board’s July newsletter.

The Board is grateful to the Australia-China Council for its support through the grant scheme which creates a strong link between China and Australia, directly benefitting the Australian public.

Background

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Australia-China Council (ACC) Grants Program strengthens links between Australia and China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan by supporting innovative activities to promote mutual understanding and foster stronger relations.

More information about the ACC, the grants program and the full list of successful grant recipients is available on the Australia-China Council website.

For more information

• Lodge an online enquiry form
• For registration enquiries: 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 03 9275 9009 (overseas callers)
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200

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