The best of both worlds: patients prescribed TCM and Western medicines

Medical institutions in North China's Shanxi province using therapies combining traditional Chinese medicine and Western medical sciences to treat novel coronavirus patients have made marked progress in recent weeks, local practitioners said.

Since the outbreak in December, TCM specialists from Shanxi Traditional Chinese Medicine Institute have cooperated with a number of hospitals in the province to create therapies and preventive measures for patients of various conditions.

As a result of the research, the specialist team at the institute developed five therapies for treating the novel coronavirus. The therapies were approved by the Shanxi Medical Products Administration and the Shanxi Health Commission on Feb 17, according to local media reports.

Shanxi became the fourth province after Guangdong, Sichuan and Shaanxi to use these approved TCM therapies to treat patients infected with the novel coronavirus.

By Feb 20, the therapies had been used in both Shanxi and Hubei－the province that was most severely hit by the epidemic－to help patients and medical workers boost their immunity.

According to the Shanxi Health Commission, the TCM therapies have been offered to more than 13,000 patients and medical workers.

It is reported that more than 90 percent of the confirmed coronavirus patients in Shanxi province have used the TCM products and therapies.

According to Li Tingquan, head of the hospital affiliated to Shanxi University of Chinese Medicine, the TCM therapies are used with Western medicines.

"Doctors drew on both TCM and Western medical experience in epidemic disease treatment to work out plans and therapies for treating patients, helping to relieve fever, coughing, shortness of breath, fatigue and poor appetite," Li said.

The first patient who received both TCM and Western medical therapies in Shanxi province was discharged on Feb 6 from the No 1 People's Hospital in Shuozhou city.

"We used TCM therapies to help improve patients' lung conditions and Western medical therapies to increase patients' immunity to the virus," said Ding Aiguo, head of the hospital's TCM department.

He said TCM quickly improves clinical symptoms, strengthens a patient's bodily resistance and eases defecation.

He added that patients who received TCM treatment held a relatively stable condition and appeared unlikely to decline into a more serious state.

Shanxi was among the earliest provinces to use both TCM and Western medical measures to treat novel coronavirus patients.

The Shanxi Health Commission and Shanxi Medical Products Administration established a TCM experts group on Jan 21.The team is led by Wang Xixing, a famed professor and researcher at Shanxi Traditional Chinese Medicine Institute.

The group, on behalf of the local health authority, approved the provincial TCM treatment plan for the epidemic on Feb 6.

As of midnight on Feb 26, a total of 133 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus pneumonia were reported in Shanxi province. Of them, 104 were cured and discharged from the hospitals.

Guo Yanjiecontributed to this story.