Officials from Shanghai and Hamburg in Germany announce the start of a postgraduate Master of Chinese Medicine program on Sept 12. [Photo/Xinhua]

A postgraduate Master of Chinese Medicine program was launched in Hamburg, Germany on Sept 12, with the aim of nurturing traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) professionals.

The program is a joint effort of the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SUTCM), HanseMerkur Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), and a vocational college of UKE.

The three-year program targets European practitioners of Western medicine, and those who finish the program will receive a Master of Medicine degree awarded by the SUTCM.

The student will study for a certain period in Shanghai every year, and teachers at SUTCM will also go to Hamburg to give students lectures twice a year. Each student will have both a Chinese and a German adviser.

Sven Schroder, director of the HanseMerkur Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that TCM is preferred by German patients in curing chronic diseases such as pains and neurogenic diseases.

Students who apply for the program have completed Western medicine education and want to acquire some knowledge of Chinese medicine so as to provide a combined treatment of Chinese and Western medicine after graduation, according to Schroder.

Sun Congbin, China's consul general in Hamburg, said that he is pleased to see the launch of this program and considered it conducive to promoting Sino-German cooperation in the health care sector.

A TCM healthcare and culture exhibition, running from Sept 12 to 16, was held alongside the launch ceremony of the program, with the aim of enabling German residents to know more about TCM culture.

A German visitor admires traditional Chinese medicine exhibits at an exhibition in Hamburg on Sept 12. [Photo/Xinhua]