Chinese Medicine Health Alliance

03/07/2025

We’re all trying to cope—with what’s going on in our lives, in the lives of those we care about, and in the world at large.
The term I’ve recently learned that describes this is cognitive load coping.

It’s that quiet struggle of carrying more than we’re built to hold.

Thoughts, emotions, to-do lists, grief, hope, worry… it all adds up.

When it gets too much = 🌈SIMPLIFY. That’s my personal strategy. 😌🤓❤️🥗

Photo: chatGPT

01/07/2025

23/09/2021

We are still working in the background to assist our profession where we can.

However, the past year has been complicated to say the least. We are working on a resource to approach more General Practitioners.

It would still be great to hear from you to see how our profession has progressed and what practitioners are looking at this point of time.

Please help us with this survey:

We are still working in the background to assist our profession where we can. However, the past year has been complicated to say the least. We are working on a resource to approach more General Practitioners and hopefully get more referrals and a range of other small projects. It would still be grea...

29/05/2020

We would love to receive your feedback that came out of conversations with GP's (General Practitioners) based on the question: What do you need from us in order to refer your next patient to a Chinese medicine practitioner? We are currently capturing feedback to determine exactly what they need. Any ideas? Your input is much appreciated. 🙌🤩😀

19/09/2019

We haven't posted here for a while which doesn't mean that stuff is happening!

We just wanted a clearer idea on what our next steps are. Louis Cali and I had several meetings on identifying the next steps and we are also talking to key persons in our industry so we can come up with a strategy.

So far, we have set the purpose and mission of the Chinese Medicine Health Alliance (CMHA), which was founded in 2015 and born to initiate progress within the industry. We will aim to do that through:
- Identifying ways to strengthen the industry’s reputation;
- Improving communication with the public and increasing public awareness of CM; both proactive and reactive.
- Building stronger and meaningful collaborations with regulatory bodies, government agencies and professional associations to ensure a unified and consistent voice;
- Building confidence and resilience in CM practitioners in Australia and internationally.

Soon, we will reach out to you and let you know how you can help!

It's spring and we are excited to get this ball rolling.

03/12/2017

MA HUANG & FU ZI NEWS

Congratulations to the Chinese medicine profession!

With the support of the CMBA, who instigated action by convening a meeting of all associations on September 22nd, we have completed a proposal to give the profession access to Ma Huang and Zhi Fu Zi by requesting the re-scheduling of those herbs from Schedules 2 and 4 to Schedule 1. The final draft was submitted to the CMBA on November 30th. The proposal is now posted on the FCMA website so you can download and read it: http://fcma.org.au/en/publications/submissions. An overview of the issues raised can be seen in the Table of Contents on page 3.

THE PROCESS
This is the beginning of a long process, first going to the Board’s Policy Planning and Communications Committee. The National Board application will then go to an AHPRA expert committee, the Health Workforce Principal Committee, the Office of Best Practice Regulation and other relevant stakeholders. Step 2 will be public consultation, and Step 3 would be application to the ministerial Council for recommendation under section 14(1) of the National Law for an endorsement in relation to the scheduled medicines we have proposed. We then have to wait for the Ministerial Council decision.

The application is the culmination of years of preparation including the establishment of National Registration and the associated Codes and Guidelines. Those followed broad consultation with the profession and other stakeholders and laid the foundation for our case. The most recent, the Guidelines for Safe Chinese Herbal Medicine Practice (2015) http://www.chinesemedicineboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines/Guidelines-for-safe-practice.aspx established, amongst other things, responsible labelling procedures and also asserted the benefits of using the Pin Yin herb names, rather than primarily relying on the scientific nomenclature as proposed by the TGA and supported by AACMA (see Jing Luo Summer Edition 2014-15 page 10). The schedules refer to aconite species in general, so the principle of using Pin Yin nomenclature was helpful in clarifying the safety of Zhi Fu Zi when compared with Chuan Wu, which is a different plant part, and Cao Wu, which is a different species.

THE COLLABORATION
On August 3rd this year, the CMBA issued an invitation to all professional associations to attend a consultation meeting convened on September 22nd 2017. At that meeting, the associations were supported and guided by presentations made by the CMBA, Dr David Graham, and the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council (AHMAC), which outlined the key areas to be addressed. Those included therapeutic value, benefit to the public, absence of suitable substitutes, and risk management. At the meeting, it was agreed that the FCMA would form a Working Group to co-ordinate the project under the leadership of Dr Sherman Gu.

Brigitte Linder (CMHA) and Robin Marchment drafted a framework document and in October a preliminary draft was sent to all associations. It covered the key points recommended at the September 22nd meeting, and identified 6 areas that needed substantive supplementation – calling on the associations to nominate the areas they would contribute to. In response, Brigitte Linder from CMHA and Glenys Savage from TMCSA supported the project with positive suggestions, Max Ma from CMIS and Xu Wei Luo and Tony Zhen Ye Rong from CMASA provided substantive contributions in the forms of appendices, and I supplemented areas not contributed to by the associations. Whilst other associations did not make substantive contribution, all nevertheless expressed their support for the proposal. The profession can be proud of having produced a comprehensive proposal worthy of our profession. The FCMA Working Group provided ongoing editing and suggestions, and huge commendation goes to Sherman Gu who worked tirelessly editing and co-ordinating the project. All in all, the exercise was one of collegiality and constructive collaboration.

07/10/2017

Here is the feedback from the consultation with the Chinese Medicine Registration Board on access to restricted herbs.
https://chinesemedicinehealthalliance.com.au/access-to-restricted-herbs/

Access to Restricted Herbs by CMHAA | Oct 6, 2017 | Uncategorized | 0 comments On 22nd September CMBA (Chinese Medicine Board of Australia) invited professional associations and organisations to discuss access to restricted herbs. AACMA Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association ATMS Au...

06/10/2017

Welcome to the Chinese Medicine Health Alliance of Australia. Please visit our website to stay up-to-date on all our happenings. We look forward to the mutual support of our communities. Change For The Better! - Brigitte Linder

https://chinesemedicinehealthalliance.com.au/

WELCOME TO CHINESE MEDICINE HEALTH ALLIANCE AUSTRALIA – CHANGE FOR THE BETTER  IDENTIFY We have identified the need that changes for our industry have to come from us.  POSITIVE We are a group of practitioner who are committed to bring about a new culture of support and collaboration for our indus...