The Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to be built in Belarus will follow the same philosophy as similar centers in China, Healthcare Minister Dmitry Pinevich told the Panorama program on the Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA informs.
The minister revealed the details of the agreements reached during the official visit of the Healthcare Ministry delegation to China. “The main purpose of the visit was take part in the conference on traditional Chinese medicine [4th China Traditional Chinese Medicine Expo], which resumed its work after the pandemic. Traditional Chinese medicine has a very interesting philosophy, so it is not just about bringing some traditional Chinese medicines to Belarus. At first we tried to figure out how Chinese specialists will be able to work in our country. We thrashed out this matter. Now they can work here without any restrictions if they get the appropriate permission from the People’s Republic of China. We facilitated access for traditional Chinese medicines to our market provided they comply with very strict quality criteria that exist in China,” the minister explained.
“The combination of traditional Chinese medicines and so-called European medicines is the area where we can excel. Several reports at the conference focused on the combined approach to cancer treatment. Unfortunately, cancer is a matter of serious concern for us. Cancer cases are rising (including this year, and this has to do with various reasons), so we are looking for some out-of-the-box solutions to treat these extremely complex diseases. The combination of conventional chemotherapy methods and traditional Chinese medicine is only one of the elements of our interaction. Our longer-term plans provide for localization of traditional Chinese medicine products,” Dmitry Pinevich added.
According to him, the delegation toured various centers of traditional Chinese medicine. “We can set up something similar in our country. There are specialists. These centers will be to a large extent identical to such centers in China, they will have the same approaches and philosophy. Of course, we must do it in collaboration with our Chinese partners. Therefore, by the end of this year we will open a state-run polyclinic in the Great Stone industrial park,” the minister said. “And we asked our Chinese partners to send specialists to provide [healthcare services] using methods of traditional Chinese medicine. Together with the Great Stone industrial park, we put forward proposals to build a bigger hospital specializing in traditional Chinese medicine. We suggested construction sites where this facility can be built by Chinese investors or jointly with us,” the minister informed.
Speaking about the medicines the production of which can be localized in Belarus, Dmitry Pinevich noted that traditional Chinese medicine is, first of all, about prevention. “These are health-boosting and antipyretic medicines,” he explained.