Victoria is to become the first jurisdiction outside of China to provide for the statutory registration of practitioners of Chinese Medicine.

The Ministerial Advisory Committee on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) recommended a system of regulation similar to other medicines in which the herbs used were properly prescribed and dispensed by properly qualified persons who will assume appropriate responsibility for their usage.

A new Complementary Medicine Project will be formed within the Public Health and Development Division of the Department of Human Services to maintain the present cooperation between the industry and Government.

A TCM Practitioners Registration Bill will be introduced into State Parliament during 1999. In 1996 there were more than 300 practitioners of TCM in Victoria, with at least six publicly owned or privately or publicly-funded training schools graduating primary-care TCM practitioners each year.

There are an estimated 2.8 million TCM transactions per year throughout Australia, with a total estimated turnover of $84 million.