Li Xiuhui, deputy head of Beijing TCM Treatment Expert Group of COVID-19, chief physician of Integrated TCM and Western Medicine Center of You'an Hospital, and deputy director of the Institute of Infectious Diseases of Integrate TCM and Western Medicine, said that TCM has contributed to protect people's health in fighting epidemics from ancient times till the present. In the fight against this epidemic, TCM treatment helps to boost the healthy Qi of human body, thus maintaining its capability in fighting the disease, adjusting its inner balance and repairing pathological damage. TCM plays an important role in the whole process of prevention, treatment and rehabilitation.

In terms of prevention, according to the theory of “when healthy Qi is in, pathogenic Qi is out” in the Yellow Emperor’s Classic on Medicine. TCM doctors put forward the view of boosting healthy Qi to fight the epidemic, and have formulated prevention guidelines for adults, children, and people with pre-existing diseases. During the anti-epidemic period, medical staff at designated hospitals took TCM preventive decoction, and none of them got infected. Mild and moderate patients merely used TCM treatment and they were cured. The patient with slow process of nucleic acid test turning into negative is viewed as deficiency in healthy Qi and being filled with pathogenic Qi. For several moderate patients who had been in hospital for more than 40 days, after receiving TCM treatment of strengthening the spleen, boosting healthy qi and diffusing the dampness, their nucleic acid test turned into negative and they were discharged from the hospital.

For severe and critical cases, integrated TCM and Western medicine treatment is adopted. TCM and western medicine doctors discuss treatment plans, with “one plan for one patient”. Through close coordination, the joint consultation mechanism of TCM and western medicine experts plays a pretty good role. For example, if a patient suffers from asthma, with deteriorated lung inflammation, TCM treatment prevents pulmonary exudation, so to support western medicine treatment of liquid therapy; if a patient has blood in sputum, which is a manifestation of heat in the blood, removing heat from the blood to stop bleeding is proved to be quite effective; For the treatment of discharged patients, TCM doctors adopt a combined measures of adjusting patients’ state of mind, emotions, diet and organ rehabilitation, and use TCM treatment of boosting Healthy Qi and nourishing Yin to further improve patients’ symptoms of cough, expectoration, hypoproteinemia, electrolyte disorders and lung inflammation. Discharged patients recovered very well after receiving TCM rehabilitation in return visit.