BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The number of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) medical institutions had totalled 65,809 in the country by the end of 2019, up 41.4 percent from 2015, statistics from the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine showed.

As of September 2020, the number of registered TCM clinics had reached 19,000, rising from 195 in 2017, thanks to a favorable circular issued in December 2017 to streamline the process for qualified TCM doctors to open clinics.

China saw not only a rapid growth in the number of such medical institutions during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020) but also witnessed a constant improvement in TCM service capacity.

As a result of a campaign initiated in 2016 to enhance the service capacity of TCM at the grassroots level, 98.3 percent of community-level medical service centers and 97.1 percent of township health centers were adept at providing TCM services by the end of 2019.

TCM medical institutions across China had 1.16 billion patients visits in 2019, up from 910 million in 2015, according to data from the National Health Commission.

Meanwhile, a series of measures, including building provincial-level TCM rehabilitation centers, were adopted to continuously optimize resource allocation and improve the TCM service system, bringing more benefits to the public. Enditem