Dr.
Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Pharmacists Association
Presenter/Author:
AU Ching Tung Dawn (1)(2)
Other Author:
CHOW Yeuk Lung Wesley (1)(2), CHOW Chi I Aimly (1), LO Kit Mui Doris (1)
Author Affiliation:
1. Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Pharmacists Association
2. Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong
Keywords:
Tele Consultation Service, COVID-19, Safety of Chinese Medicines, Chinese Medicine Pharmacist
Abstract:
More than two years on from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were more than 1.3M confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 9540 deaths as of 8 Aug 2022 recorded in Hong Kong, in which more than 1M confirmed cases were rapidly and fiercely developed by the fifth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic. The sudden sharp rise in cases triggered more and more people to apply Chinese pharmaceutical products for the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of COVID-19. In view of this, there is an intense need to establish a platform to provide proper guidance to Hong Kong people on the safe use of Chinese pharmaceutical products for COVID-19. A tele-consultation service platform for Chinese pharmaceutical products is being established to provide free service to the public. Training for the CM pharmacists professionals, consolidating the common questions, public talks, as well as surveys of behavior on using herbal medicine was conducted. Some completed, ongoing, and scheduled services and studies are shown below:
A book consolidating the commonly asked questions was published in May 2022; a survey on behavioural prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of using western and Chinese medicines among the public in response to COVID-19 in Hong Kong was completed and submitted to the international journal. A train the trainer course funded by CUHK Li Dak Sum Yip Yio Chin R&D Centre for Chinese Medicine to strengthen professional skills will be conducted from Aug to Oct 2022. With the support of the Chinese Medicine Development Fund, 40 public talks on the safe use of Chinese pharmaceutical products for COVID-19 will be delivered in the coming half year; 3 additional tele-hotlines will be set up to cater to the demand.
Reference:
N/A
Funding Source:
N/A
Conflict of Interests:
The author reports no conflicts of interest related to this study.
Dr. Dawn AU obtained her Bachelor's degree in Chinese Medicine Pharmacy and Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy from Hong Kong Baptist University in 2005 and 2009, respectively. She led Chinese medicine pharmacists to establish Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Pharmacists Association in 2015 and she is the chairperson of the association. In 2019, she developed a new programme of Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Chinese Medicinal Pharmacy at Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong to nurture the new Chinese pharmacists for the Chinese medicine industry.
Dr. Dawn AU research areas focus on the Lingnan herbal Chinese medicines and CM authentication. In addition, she was invited to be one of the assessors of the Hong Kong Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (HOKLAS), and a committee member of the Committee on Research and Development of Chinese Medicine, as well as the Enterprise Support Scheme (ESS) Assessment Panel of Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF). She is a principal/co-principal investigator who actively collaborates with local, mainland, and international academic institutes, as well as the industry, to secure research/training grants.