Developing a Chinese Medicine programme in a western medical university

Abstract

Chinese medicine is one of the most famous traditional medicines in the world with a glorious and long written history of at least 2000 years. Recently, acupuncture and the use of other herbal medicine are being gradually accepted globally. In 2011, the International Medical University (IMU) started the Chinese Medicine programme which is the first of its kind in a western medicine university in Malaysia. The author introduced the background of Chinese medicine and the curriculum of the Chinese Medicine programme established in IMU, analyzed the situation regarding the quality of lectures given by internal and external lecturers in this programme and also discussed on ways to integrate western and traditional medicine in IMU or in Malaysia. The launching of Chinese medicine in IMU is a great step in the development of IMU and also an important step in the development of medical education in Malaysia or even in South-east Asia.