Five clinics in Singapore receive traditional Chinese medicine accreditation — Channel NewsAsia
In Singapore, five traditional Chinese medicine institutions have become the first to receive accredited clinic status under a new national programme. From 17 October 2026, traditional Chinese medicine service providers and practitioners can apply for voluntary accreditation covering patient safety, clinical governance, service quality and professional competence, Channel NewsAsia reports.
First accredited institutions
Accredited TCM Clinic status will be awarded to Kwong Wai Shiu TCM Centre in Serangoon, NTU Chinese Medicine, the headquarters of Singapore Chung Hwa Medical Institution, the headquarters of Singapore Thong Chai Medical Institution, and Thomson Chinese Medicine in Novena.
The programme consists of two parts: service accreditation for institutions and accreditation for individual practitioners. Assessments of institutions will take into account governance, hygiene and infection control, equipment, and traditional Chinese medicine products. Practitioners will be assessed on their education, clinical experience and professional reputation. The Academy of Chinese Medicine, Singapore, has been appointed as the accreditation body.
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said that accreditation is voluntary: registered practitioners and institutions can operate without it. According to him, the status is intended to demonstrate enhanced governance standards, consistent requirements and strengthen public trust. The ministry is also studying a proposal to allow accredited practitioners to order X-rays as part of a shared-care model with general practitioners.
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Testing methods in hospitals
On 3 November 2026, the ministry will open the second application call for the TCM Integrative Sandbox initiative, which will run until 2 November 2029. It enables public healthcare institutions to test selected traditional Chinese medicine methods in hospitals and assess their safety, clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.
So far, only acupuncture for treating neck and lower back pain has undergone such an assessment; it is offered in public hospitals with subsidies. Under the first call, launched in January 2025, seven acupuncture projects were selected from 18 proposals. They include post-stroke rehabilitation, supportive care for cancer patients to manage pain, insomnia, fatigue and gastrointestinal problems, as well as migraine, knee osteoarthritis, female infertility and drug-resistant epilepsy.
Cooperation with general practitioners
Separately, the ministry is preparing the Healthier SG-TCM pilot programme for cooperation between traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and general practitioners in preventive health. The agency received 30 proposals and intends to launch the project in the first half of 2027. According to the minister, one in five adult Singaporeans had used traditional Chinese medicine services, and nearly 40% of them sought help for the same problem from both such practitioners and Western medicine providers.
