Focus on traditional Chinese medicine at DHCC

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

In line with the Dubai Silk Road Strategy, the promotion of traditional Chinese Alternative Medicine (CAM) and  (TCM) in Dubai was sealed with the formal launch on Sunday at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academic Medical Centre of the Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) free zone.

The launch which preceded the start of a series of CAM and TCM seminars and workshops for DHCC-based health professionals, also featured the exhibition of several TCM institutions and consultations with “TCM masters.”

It comes eight months after the Dubai Healthcare City Authority (DHCA) and the Guangdong-Macau Traditional Chinese Medicine Technology Industrial Park (GMTMC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the promotion and advancement of TCM, as an alternative and complementary form of medical approach at the free zone, on Sept. 2018, on the sidelines of the “Traditional Medicine International Forum” in Macau.

Notes from the exhibition site:

* “Traditional Chinese Medicine has been around since over 2,000 years.”

* “To understand your body, we first understand the universe.”

* “Nature is the best doctor. All our medicines and treatments are natural.”

* “No compromise on the quality and standard of medicines despite the scarcity of medicinal ingredients.”

* “No compromise on the cost and labour despite the complexities in the production of herbal medicines.”

Called the “2019 Dubai-Macao TCM Exchange Programme,” the launch comes two months after Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, approved in March the two-pronged Dubai Silk Road Strategy that heightens further the positioning of Dubai as an “established global trade and logistics hub between the East and West” as it enhances domestic trade among free zones and other emirates” resulting in more improved UAE economy arising from boosted competitiveness and sustainability.

The strategy has reference to ancient China’s Silk Road, fundamental to trade links between West/East/Southeast Asia to Africa and Southern Europe.

Headquartered in Hengqin, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China (PRC), GMTCM has been actively pursuing the advancement of “TCM, education and technology industry, together with scientific and technological capacity of human resources to attract domestic and international large pharmaceutical enterprises to set up their headquarters, to create an international TCM industrial base where the TCM, treatment, healthcare, medical technology transformation, health products research and development of logistics, conference and exhibition as an organic whole will be concentrated, and to create an international trading platform for the authentic green medical materials and the renowned quality products for health.”

Officials of the teams responsible for the partnership and PRC Acting Consul General to Dubai and the Northern Emirates Tan Li spoke at the launch.  

DHCA Chief Investment officer Imran Sheikh said: “Our partnership with GMTCM will further cement the cooperation between the UAE and China. This programme, a platform for knowledge and cultural exchange in healthcare between two countries, will help advance (CAM) expertise, specifically TCM within our free zone and beyond.”

DHCC is home to 21 TCM clinical facilities with over 50 TCM professionals or “masters” patronised by various nationalities for solutions to their disabilities including lifestyle diseases.

Representing the GMTCM president and chief executive officer, Hong  said the “solid cooperation” with DHCA began in 2017: “With the Dubai Silk Belt Road Strategy, we hope to establish centres and professionals (here) through summer camps.”

Li expressed hope that the programme strengthens more the “bilateral cooperation between the UAE and PRC.”

She said TCM has grown into a “positive influence in world civilisation” with its value of “harmony between man and nature” built on the Yin and Yang principles.