Coronavirus in China: Beijing wants to promote traditional medicine but not everyone is on board
CNNHong Kong CNN — Xiong Qingzhen, a drone engineer in the central Chinese metropolis of Wuhan, spent more than two weeks in a makeshift hospital in February receiving treatment for Covid-19, the respiratory disease causing a global health crisis. The “lung-clearing and detoxing soup,” as the herbal compound he was given is called, was part of the Chinese government’s push to use Traditional Chinese Medicine in the fight against the novel coronavirus outbreak. “We are willing to share the ‘Chinese experience’ and ‘Chinese solution’ of treating Covid-19, and let more countries get to know Chinese medicine, understand Chinese medicine and use Chinese medicine,” Yu Yanhong, deputy head of China’s National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said at a press conference last week. “Traditional Chinese medicine has played an active role in improving the recovery rate and lowering the fatality rate among patients,” he told a press conference late last month. Xinhua News Agency/Xinhua News Agency/Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images Two days later, China’s National Health Commission issued a notice asking medical institutions to “actively promote the role of traditional Chinese medicine during treatment” of coronavirus.