China aims to build a more robust traditional Chinese medicine service system covering the entire population throughout its full life cycle by 2030, according to a national plan for TCM development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30).
The plan was approved by the State Council, China”s Cabinet, and released recently by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the National Development and Reform Commission.
By 2030, China aims to achieve breakthroughs in TCM prevention and treatment of major diseases, upgrade grassroots TCM services and significantly enhance basic TCM research capabilities.
The plan says the overall innovation capacity of the TCM industry will be greatly strengthened and the international influence of TCM further enhanced.
To achieve these goals, the plan calls for establishing several national-level TCM medical centers and advancing TCM treatment for major diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, kidney disease and infectious diseases.
Large TCM hospitals will be encouraged to develop geriatrics and pediatrics departments and establish psychological counseling and sleep disorder clinics. Nursing homes and hospice care institutions will also receive support to enhance their TCM service capacity. County-level TCM hospitals are expected to play a greater role in providing routine medical care, preventive healthcare, rehabilitation services, talent training, the promotion of safe and cost-effective TCM therapies, and health education.
Efforts will also be made to improve comprehensive, full-life-cycle TCM services covering critical care, infectious diseases, childhood myopia and obesity, rehabilitation and other areas, while deepening the integration of TCM and Western medicine and cultivating more TCM professionals.
The plan also emphasizes advancing the inheritance and innovation of TCM by launching high-quality clinical studies, supporting research into innovative TCM drugs and medical devices, strengthening the discovery and development of classic TCM formulations and prescriptions, and establishing more TCM-centered research platforms.
It also calls for improving laws and regulations governing the protection and management of TCM medicinal resources and seed materials. Efforts will be intensified to explore the clinical value of rare and endangered TCM resources and advance research into artificial breeding and the development of artificial substitutes.
As TCM gains increasing recognition worldwide, the plan says the number of TCM practitioners serving on China’s foreign medical aid teams will be gradually increased, and TCM medical teams will continue to be dispatched overseas.
High-quality overseas TCM centers, international cooperation bases and service export bases will be established, and a pilot program for inbound TCM consumption will be launched.
Official data shows that in 2025, the total number of TCM outpatient and emergency visits reached 1.82 billion, while the number of beds in public TCM hospitals stood at 0.82 per 1,000 people.
By the end of 2025, nearly all county-level regions had established government-run TCM medical institutions, and 96.26 percent of secondary and tertiary public general hospitals had set up TCM clinical departments.
wangxiaoyu@chinadaily.com.cn