Hong Kong Legal Regulation of Acupuncture

ong Kong legal regulation of Acupuncture

In Traditional Chinese Medicine aspects, all the Chinese medicine practitioners is regulated by The Chinese Medicine Ordinance (Cap. 549) in Hong Kong. These ordinance is used to regulated to all kinds of TCM practices including general practice, acupuncture, bone-setting, massage etc.

Actually, the Chinese Medicine Ordinance (Cap. 549) is too brief to regulate the TCM practices, especially acupuncture. There is no any chapter is specified to acupuncture. The ordinance just mentioned that only certified TCM doctor (General practice) and TCM doctor (Acupuncture) can provide acupuncture therapy service. And the ordinance stipulates the TCM doctors need to have continuous learning in order to renew the license 3 years once.

In the ordinance, there is no regulation about the procedure of acupuncture therapy. It will be ambiguous to the consumers and it cannot regulate the acupuncture practitioners effectively.

On the other hand, using acupuncture therapy in Physiotherapy is not regulated by The Chinese Medicine Ordinance as it is different from TCM theory. In Hong Kong, the acupuncture registered physiotherapists are required to be approved with a recognized post-graduate degree or certified from the Hong Kong Society of Physiotherapy Acupuncture audit bureau. The acupuncture procedures and standards of hygiene requirements should reach Acupuncture Society requirements which called ‘Standard of Acupuncture Practice for Physiotherapists’ and regulated by the Acupuncture board.

In a 3-year science (Hons) program from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, there is only 80 hours Lecture time about acupuncture but it is certified by the Hong Kong Society of Physiotherapy Acupuncture audit bureau. The requirement may not be professional enough compare to other countries like California. Acupuncture therapy can be fatal. The regulation standard may need