Standards for TCM decoction to be applied globally

The China-made standards for decocting traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have been approved by the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies and expected to be implemented across the world, CCTV reported on Wednesday.

Instead of making the decoction at home, Chinese people have turned to pharmacies to decoct TCM for them since the dedicated decoction machine began to be widely used in 2007. However, there were no universal standards for the process with most pharmacies decocting TCM in their own ways.

Against the backdrop, it was necessary to set standards for those qualified to decoct TCM for patients and how long should the medicine be boiled. In this way, service of decocting TCM can be improved and decocting centers at home and abroad will be promoted.

According to Jiang Libin, a senior official at the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the standards will help more decocting centers grow stronger and the TCM go abroad.

"All countries should meet the standards when setting up decocting centers. The Belt and Road Initiative has helped expand our decocting centers overseas and more Chinese enterprises producing herbal lozenges go global," he said.

"Those standards for decocting centers are of great significance to help enterprises producing herbal lozenges go abroad and TCM have an influence on the international community," he added.