Traditional Chinese medicine: comparative analysis of legislation on the practice and practitioners in Malaysia, Singapore and Australia / Karena Khalid

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a form of Traditional and Complementary Medicine (T&CM) that is widely used all around the world. TCM has been brought to this country since the 15th centuries by the influx of immigrants from China at that time. Since then, TCM has continuously developed and been accepted by the locals. Due to increased usage of TCM by the public, the government has taken steps to ensure the quality and safe practice of TCM by introducing the T&CM Act 2016 [Act 775]. The Act started to be enforced since 1 August 2016 that gives power to regulate the practice and practitioners of TCM alongside six other practice areas. Australia and Singapore have started to regulate TCM much earlier than Malaysia. Australia developed the Chinese Medicine Registration Act 2000 but later repealed by the Health Professions Registration Act 2005 which came into effect on 1 July 2007. The Health Professions Registration Act 2005 regulates TCM and seven other health professions. The approach of the act is similar to Malaysian law where TCM is regulated under a general legislation which also govern other professions. Singapore on the other hand has developed a sui generis approach of legislation to regulate TCM. The TCM Practitioners Act 2000 gives power to regulate the practice and practitioners of TCM in Singapore. Therefore, this study is aimed to analyze and compare the procedural and substantive component of the legislation of TCM in Malaysia in comparison to Singapore and Australia by using library-based method. All relevant articles, journals, government publications and books related to the field will be collected and analyzed. At the end of the study the similarities or differences from the other countries could be evaluated for future references and improvement of the existing law in Malaysia.