Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    THE University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Hospital has put 22 more beds into use in its traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and rehabilitation wards, in a step toward opening up more of its capacity to meet demand.

    The 12 TCM beds will accept patients from its TCM outpatient department, who account for 60 percent of the total, as well as other outpatient departments. It was promised that treatment techniques there would mainly be TCM ones, including acupuncture, cupping and herbal teas. Only a small number of Western-style medicines, including sedative drugs and blood pressure medication, are allowed to be used there.

    “A large proportion of the patients are senior citizens who have been prescribed blood pressure medication for years,” said Lao Lixing, chief of the hospital’s TCM department. “So we allow the use of such medication to ensure the treatment’s effect.”

    The hospital’s inpatient rehabilitation section has been in trial use since August, providing treatment to help patients restore the use of their muscles, nervous system and other body parts by employing heat, cold, massage, and other techniques.