Traditional Chinese medicine is the largest incremental resource for medical reform

For China, a large developing country with a population of 1.3 billion, how to solve the health and health protection problems of the masses of people is a matter of the overall economic and social development. The report of the 18th CPC National Congress proposed that in order to build a well-to-do society in an all-round way, people's health should be improved; the direction of serving the people's health must be adhered to, and prevention must be the priority, and the emphasis should be on rural areas. Both Chinese and Western medicine should be given equal emphasis; The construction mechanism requires that the public be provided with safe, effective, convenient and inexpensive public health and basic medical services. At present, how to promote deeper medical reform under the guidance of the spirit of the 18th National Congress?

In this connection, the reporter interviewed Xiaomei Xiao, Director of the Institute of Industrial Economics, Guangdong Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.

It is imminent to build a healthy society for all citizens

Reporter: Under the current background of getting rich and being old, what kind of predicament will China's current medical security system face?

Xiang Xiaomei: There are three characteristics of aging in China - it is fast, and it has a large number of people. As of the end of 2011, the number of elderly people aged 60 and above in China has reached 185 million, accounting for 13.7% of the total population. It is estimated that by 2015, the total number of elderly people aged 60 and above will reach 221 million, accounting for With 16% of the total population, the aging of the population is grim. The forecast shows that from 2030 to 2040, China will enter the high point of aging, and the ratio of the elderly population to the total population will reach 30% to 40%, and will remain at a high level in the next 100 years.

After society enters an aging society, the prevention and management of chronic diseases will become particularly important with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, malignant tumors, and chronic respiratory diseases. Data show that the deaths caused by chronic diseases have accounted for 85% of the total deaths. Chronic diseases are major public health problems. If they are not effectively controlled in time, they will restrict the sustainable development of the economy and society.

Chinese medicine is the largest incremental resource for medical reform

Reporter: How do you view the current direction of the reform of the medical security system?

Xiang Xiaomei: China's current medical system cannot cope with new health problems such as sub-health and chronic diseases. No country, including the United States, can afford the health care system based on these high-priced drugs and medical equipment.

The United States spent 2.2 trillion U.S. dollars in 2007 and still failed to solve the problem of the general public’s medical treatment and expensive medical services. China’s population is more than four times that of the United States. If we continue to use their medical model to solve the nation’s health problems, our country must invest 9.5 trillion US dollars each year. Under the prevailing basic national conditions, the monotherapy biomedical model and high-tech worship will further amplify the financial risks of the medical security system. If we do not break this medical model, our health care security system will face a collapse crisis.

Reporter: What is the way out for the sustainable development of China's medical and health security system?

Xiang Xiaomei: In the final analysis, the path of China's reform of the health care system should be innovative, and it must be changed from the original stock reform to the incremental reform.

We must shift from a medical model focusing on disease treatment to a new model that integrates prevention with health management and disease treatment, and reconfigure misaligned medical resources to link national health education and disease prevention, and pay close attention to national health education from a strategic perspective. Strengthening the health literacy of all citizens is the basis for establishing the framework of China's medical and health system.

Reporter: What is the biggest incremental resource for reform?

Xiang Xiaomei: It is our traditional Chinese medicine. The “people-oriented” whole view of Chinese medicine fits the shift from modern biomedical models to “biological-psychological-social” models; compared to western medical security models at the cost of huge financial subsidies, TCM highlights its “supply”. "Advance, prevention, and sustainability."

In the custom of medical and health care in traditional Chinese medicine, there is a tradition of "prevention of medical treatment" that focuses on prevention, a health care tradition that emphasizes a healthy lifestyle, and the unique advantages of traditional Chinese medicine and integrated Chinese and Western medicine. These traditional advantages are conducive to exploring the limits of transcending biomedical models with unique social medical models, which will help us explore unique social medical security mechanisms.

Starting from our country’s reality, giving full play to the comparative advantages of “convenient and inexpensive inspection” of traditional Chinese medicine and establishing a medical and health security system with Chinese characteristics that are of equal importance to both Chinese and Western medicine is a correct path and an important measure for building a harmonious society.

Innovating healthcare system with Chinese characteristics

Reporter: What advice do you have on the construction of a Chinese healthcare system?

Xiang Xiaomei: First, it is necessary to establish a modern medical system with Chinese characteristics and strive to achieve the three major changes in the medical security system. That is, the concept of medical care has changed from being treated as a diseased one to being treated as a disease; From the "western medicine as the main, supplemented by traditional Chinese medicine" system to "equal emphasis on Chinese and Western medicine"; from the main external disturbance into self-improvement ability to prevent disease.

Second, we must attach great importance to national health education from a strategic perspective. Guided by the core concept of "Treat Diseases" of Chinese medicine, the public is guided to establish a good habit of life and behavior, truly "prevention first", and at the source to overcome the difficulties of seeing a doctor and expensive questions.

The third is to vigorously support the development of the Chinese medicine health industry. To support the development of the Chinese medicine industry, the health industry must break through two obstacles: One is to speed up the collection of traditional medicine and food homologues, and the other is to include Chinese medicine “prevention of disease” and TCM health care projects into the category of health insurance payments.