A Brief Discussion on the Specialty Development System of Chinese Medicine Practitioners in Hong Kong

Since the Subsidiary Law on Chinese Medicine Registration has been implemented by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (HK) in 2000, the status of Chinese medicine (CM) has gradually improved. In addition, the first Chinese medicine hospital in HK will be operated in 2025. More and more HK citizens and Chinese medicine practitioners (CMPs) believe that there is a need to develop CM specialties. However, over the years, no major breakthrough in the HK CM specialty system development due to disagreements among CMPs on how to divide CM into specialties. This article aims to find out a possible CM specialty system by discussing the reasonable study time of specialties, treatment methods and diseases, sustainable development of subspecialties, and characteristics of CM. It is recommended that a three-year basic training on CM treatment skills, which are "Chinese Materia Medica", "Acupuncture and Moxibustion" and "Tuina", plus three-year advanced training on a disease basis by an independent specialist college. This structure provides a comparable structure to the current Western medicine specialty system with the possibility and feasibility for continuing development of the CM specialists that can temporarily satisfy the opinions of all parties. This suggested structure may act as a foundation to facilitate the discussion in the CM industry.