Adoption of Traditional Chinese Medicine in a Central Mediterranean Island Community

Abstract

The Maltese Islands in the central Mediterranean was one of the earliest European countries to initiate political relationships with the People's Republic of China. The political interaction translated eventually to a better appreciation of the cultural diversity of the respective countries. This appreciation led to an early adoption of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) services and their incorporation within the mainline western-based contemporary medicine generally practiced on the Islands. TCM clinical services were formally introduced in the public government-managed hospital in 1994 after a bilateral agreement was signed between the health ministries of the two respective countries. This service has now extended into the private health sector. The adoption of TCM clinical services, in the light of a greater acceptance of TCM by the patients, necessitated specific legislation to regulate the practice of TCM within the legal framework of the Maltese Healthcare Professions Act. In more recent years, since 2015, the University of Malta in collaboration with Shanghai University of TCM, have provided a postgraduate master program in TCM aimed at graduates holding a primary degree in a western-oriented health-care science.