Furthermore, she said SATCM would establish a number of laboratories for Mongolian, Tibetan and Uygur minority medical research institutes.

She said she believed ethnic medicine was an inexpensive solution to treat diseases among minority people.

The medical fee for ethnic medical treatment was only half that of TCM hospitals and one third of Western medical institutions, according to She.

The central government invested more than 73 million yuan (US$9.35 million) from 2001 to 2005 on construction of minority medical organizations.

Local governments also strengthened investment in minority medicine.

For example, the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region invested nearly 80 million yuan (US$9.9 million) in expanding five Tibetan hospitals in the region.

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region also increased annual Mongolian medicine funds from 1 million yuan (US$123,000) to 20 million yuan (US$2.5 million).

The debate over the fate of TCM was started by Zhang Gongyao, a professor of philosophy of science at Changsha-based Central South University.

In early October, Zhang posted an article on his blog suggesting the government abolish TCM from the official medical system but still retain it as an unfunded, grass-roots service. He said TCM had too many unscientific components, high toxicity and uncertain therapeutic effects.

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