Traditional Chinese medicine pharmacists package concoctions at a hospital in Wenxian, Henan province, on Sunday.

TCM treatment’s role detailed for nation’s COVID-19 protocol

(China Daily/ANN) -- The latest diagnosis and treatment protocol for COVID-19 includes greatly expanded content about traditional Chinese medicine and features acupuncture therapy for the first time, experts said.
Zhang Boli, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and former president of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said the amended protocol featured more changes in the TCM section, which is actively involved in the entire process of COVID-19 treatment.
“The newly added acupuncture therapy has further enriched treatment for the novel coronavirus and provided guidance for practice overseas,” Zhang said during a recent online forum.
As a non-drug therapy, acupuncture was used at makeshift hospitals in Wuhan in early 2020 and proved to be effective in regulating people’s immune functions.
“The new protocol recommended different acupuncture points and insertion methods for patients with different degrees of symptoms,” Zhang said, adding that acupuncture will be given to patients during their treatment and recovery.
Liu Qingquan, president of the Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said patients benefit more when acupuncture therapy is introduced early in treatment.
Patients treated with acupuncture from the onset of the disease experienced rapid alleviation of symptoms such as fatigue, fever, cough and muscle aches, with the course of the disease greatly shortened, Liu told Xinhua News Agency.
TCM is more effective treating patients infected with the Omicron strain of the virus since they show relatively mild symptoms, mainly in the upper respiratory tract, Zhang said.
Zhang and his team set up a TCM ward in Tianjin during an outbreak of Omicron cases in January.
“The 62 patients we treated took an average of 9.7 days to get negative nucleic acid test results and none of them became severe cases,” he said.
Apart from COVID-19 symptoms, TCM decoctions can also remedy elderly patients’ underlying conditions such as headache and constipation, he added.
The new protocol includes three patented granules Qingfei Paidu, Huashi Baidu and Xuanfei Baidu that were developed from three TCM soup prescriptions and received market approval in March last year.

(Latest Update March 30, 2022)