The Chinese Medicine Development Fund (CMDF) was rolled out today (June 25) for application by the Chinese medicine trade and relevant organisations.
    
     The Fund provides Chinese medicine practitioners and the Chinese medicine drug sector with financial support to jointly promote the development of Chinese medicine and enhance the overall standard of the industry, including nurturing talent for the Chinese medicine industry and the Chinese medicine hospital, promoting Chinese medicine-related studies and scientific research, and providing assistance to local Chinese medicine traders for improving the quality and standards of production and registration of proprietary Chinese medicines in accordance with statutory requirements. It is also intended to enhance public knowledge and understanding of Chinese medicine.

     The Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, noted at the CMDF launch ceremony that the Government announced the establishment of the $500 million dedicated fund in the Policy Address last year to further promote and boost the development of Chinese medicine. The Fund, consisting of various subsidy programmes, benefits stakeholders at different levels of the Chinese medicine practitioner and Chinese medicine drug sectors in a bid to foster the overall development of the trade.

     Members of the Chinese medicine industry have offered valuable advice on the subsidy programmes under the Fund. Having taken into account views from the industry, two programmes, namely the Industry Support Programme and the Enterprise Support Programme, have been set up under the CMDF.

      The Industry Support Programme provides funding for non-profit-making organisations, professional bodies, trade and academic associations and research institutions to support training programmes and courses to facilitate the development of Chinese medicine, conduct applied or policy research and studies on Chinese medicine, and organise various Chinese medicine promotional activities. Some programmes under the Industry Support Programme are open for application from today and the closing date for the first batch of applications will be August 9 this year. It is expected that the first batch of approved subsidies will be released in the fourth quarter of this year at the earliest.

      The Enterprise Support Programme provides matching funds for individual Chinese medicine practitioners and clinics, members of the Chinese medicine industry and Chinese medicine drug traders, to enhance their professional and manufacturing standards as well as their management quality. Application details will be announced in due course.

     Professor Chan expressed her gratitude to the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on the CMDF, Mr Douglas So, as well as to the members of the committee and the industry for their valuable advice and recommendations on the management and operation of the Fund. She said she hoped that the CMDF would facilitate development of the local Chinese medicine industry in multiple aspects including nurturing talents in Chinese medicine, encouraging research in Chinese medicine, enhancing public knowledge of Chinese medicine, and creating favourable conditions for promoting Chinese medicine to other places.

     The Hong Kong Productivity Council serves as the implementation partner and Secretariat for the CMDF. Further information about the CMDF is available on its website at www.cmdevfund.hk. In addition, a Chinese medicine resources platform has been established under the Fund to consolidate reference materials on Chinese medicine for the trade's reference and to provide a variety of resources to facilitate information exchange and the development of the industry. Details are available on its website at www.cmresource.hk.

Ends/Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Issued at HKT 16:30

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