China's Education Ministry Shrugs as World Medical School List Strikes Eight TCM Colleges
Liao Shumin
DATE:  Nov 19 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai
China's Education Ministry Shrugs as World Medical School List Strikes Eight TCM Colleges China's Education Ministry Shrugs as World Medical School List Strikes Eight TCM Colleges

(Yicai Global) Nov. 19 -- China's Ministry of Education yesterday shrugged off the recent de-listing of eight colleges of traditional Chinese medicine by the World Directory of Medical Schools, saying a listing of medical institutions run by a non-governmental organization cannot affect the development of TCM schools, the Paper reported.

The catalog compiled by the Ferney-Voltaire, France-based World Federation for Medical Education and the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research has removed Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Guiyang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The eight have already disappeared from the website of the federation, which says its aim "is to enhance the quality of medical education worldwide, with promotion of the highest scientific and ethical standards in medical education," Yicai Global discovered by accessing it today. The removal may stem from new policies for accreditation the group instituted in July, and which include a new recognition committee that is "independent" of the organization, per its website.

"The WFME's decisions clearly show that the world's medical community does not recognize … traditional Chinese medicine as modern medicine," the Korean Medical Association's Research Institute for Medical Policy said, online journal Korea Biomedical Review reported on Nov. 7. The KMA made this statement when it first reported on Nov. 6 that the WFME had erased the eight Chinese medical schools from the WDMS, one year after similar folk medicine colleges in Korea failed to make the cut for the directory.

The TCM colleges are a key and indispensable component of China's higher-education medical institutions, the ministry told The Paper, and their future graduates will still earn degrees and qualify as doctors after passing their medical exams.

The directory is a guide to accredited medical schools worldwide that helps prospective students make decisions and provides a reference for certifying authorities. A certificate from the committee is a prerequisite for applying for medical practitioner qualifications in the US, so the de-listing effectively denies graduates from these Chinese entities the opportunity to qualify in the US in future.

No official statements have as yet been forthcoming from the eight institutions deleted.

Editor: Ben Armour

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Keywords:   World Directory of Medical Schools