This comes after Our Hong Kong Foundation (OHKF) offered 15 recommendations to the authorities in the policy advocacy report on Tuesday.

The think tank highlighted a significant increase in demand for Chinese medicine services in the city, particularly among the elderly. It noted that the claims for Chinese Medicine services under the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme rose from 860,927 in 2017 to more than 1.64 million in 2022, marking a remarkable growth of 91.38 percent.

The report indicates that Chinese Medicine aligns with the government's healthcare reform efforts, which emphasize prevention by strengthening primary healthcare.

As a result, OHKF recommended establishing a Chinese Medicine Clinical Expert Panel, strengthening Chinese Medicine practitioners' involvement in primary healthcare development, adopting a patient-centered approach for the expansion of the scope of information sharing, evaluating the manpower to facilitate service planning, etc.

Regarding health system financing, the think tank proposed leveraging private Chinese medicine practitioners for public-private partnerships and creating a cross-sector research and development platform.

OHKF said the recommendations aim to enhance Chinese Medicine's role and support the development of a comprehensive healthcare system in Hong Kong.