TRADITIONAL Chinese medicine (TCM) has been proved effective in combination with Western medicine at treating patients diagnosed with novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.

According to the Daily, quoting statistics from the Shenzhen No. 3 People’s Hospital, the designated medical institution for COVID-19 treatment in the city, as of Friday, 54 of the 356 patients that had undergone Western medicine and TCM co-treatment at the hospital had been discharged after making a full recovery, and seven other patients previously on tracheal intubation on ventilators were able to breathe on their own.

“Many COVID-19 patients had a fever before they were hospitalized. With TCM treatment, their fever subsided on the first day they were admitted to the hospital,” said Chen Sheng, director of the Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine Department of the Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital and head of a team of TCM experts assembled for treating COVID-19 in the city.

Chen was commissioned by the city government to lead the TCM team on Jan. 24. The team members are experienced TCM practitioners from the lung disease and infectious disease departments and emergency rooms of various top-rated public hospitals in the city. Tong Xiaolin, an academic with the China Academy of Sciences, and renowned TCM master Chao Enxiang have been invited to serve as consultants on the TCM team. On Feb. 6, a total of 23 other TCM experts joined the team. Currently, six experts on the team offer treatment at the Shenzhen No. 3 People’s Hospital every day.

According to Chen, in co-treatment, TCM helps activate a patient’s own disease resistance system to fight against the virus and reduce complications while Western medicine targets the virus.

He said that the TCM treatment also helps prevent potential sequela such as pulmonary fibrosis.

(Claudia Wei)