February 6, 2026

During the Public Free Clinic Society’s 50th anniversary fundraising dinner on 27 October 2024, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung announced plans to integrate Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) into public healthcare under the expanded Healthier SG programme. This move reflects Singapore’s long-standing support for Chinese medicine, dating back to the colonial period when the colonial government recognised the need to allow Chinese medicine to flourish among the Chinese community due to a scarcity of formal medical resources. In the absence of a municipal system of medical care and poor relief, Chinese medical institutions, medical halls, clan-based recuperation centres, and individual physicians, often operating from temples, markets, or their homes, filled an important gap for the Chinese plebeian classes. Today, the government continues to support TCM, particularly charitable clinics, citing an ageing population and rising healthcare costs.  

In ‘A Brief History of Chinese Medicine in Singapore’ (Routledge Handbook of Chinese Medicine, 2022), Dr Yan Yang (NUS Chinese Studies) traces the development of TCM through three key agents: governments of different time periods, Chinese medical professionals, and religious organisations. The separation between Western medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is most prominently rooted in Article 21 of the Medical Registration Ordinance of 1905, which states that ‘Nothing contained in this Ordinance shall be construed to prohibit or prevent the practice of native systems of therapeutics according to Indian, Chinese or other Asian methods.’ Importantly, this clause implied that the government would not prohibit TCM practices, that the official healthcare system is rooted in Western medicine, positioning Asian medicine as ‘native’, and that the integration of Western and Asian medical practices would be prohibited. 

Interestingly, legal frameworks also shaped the way TCM was advertised. The Medicines (Advertisement and Sale) Act of 1955 banned exaggerated and unscientific advertisements of Chinese medicine, prohibiting phrases like ‘guaranteed to cure’ in reference to diseases such as blindness and leprosy. In response, Chinese advertisers adapted creatively, using near-synonyms and conceptually adjacent terms. For instance, the word “kidney” (shen 肾), which was explicitly banned, was substituted with “waist” (yao 腰), drawing from traditional beliefs that the kidneys govern the waist and lower back. 

A major milestone in the regulation of TCM came with the enactment of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Act in 2000. This Act marked the start of systematic state regulation of TCM, shifting away from the piecemeal approach under earlier laws like the 1978 Poisons Act. The Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Act led to the establishment of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board (TCMPB), which reflected the Singapore government’s desire to professionalise and raise standards within the TCM community. 

As Health Minister Ong Ye Kung puts it, ‘Our job is to synergise the efforts between Healthier SG and TCM, and ensure that high-quality and appropriate preventive care is delivered to as many Singaporeans as possible.’ TCM has evolved through both top-down government initiatives and ground-up community efforts, shaping a uniquely Singaporean model that reflects its broader approach of integrating East and West. 

Read the article here.