VICTORIA, B.C.: Richmond-Bridgeport MLA Teresa Wat is calling on the Minister of Health and the College of Complementary Health Professionals of BC to immediately clarify the legal status of Traditional Chinese Medicine prescriptions after the Health Professions and Occupations Act took effect today.
Under the Traditional Chinese Medicine section of the regulator’s new FAQ, the website still states: “Prescribing herbal formulae will be removed as a restricted activity. Does this mean unregulated persons can prescribe herbal formulae?” The answer remains: “Yes.”
The same webpage also states that the Ministry of Health has been directed to make regulatory changes under the HPOA to clarify that activities related to Chinese herbal formulae are restricted.
“Today is April 1. The HPOA is in force, the website has been updated, and yet the new FAQ still says unregulated persons can prescribe Traditional Chinese Medicine,” said Wat. “So what exactly is the law today? Are patients now being left in a regulatory vacuum?”
Wat said the Traditional Chinese Medicine community has repeatedly warned that this amounts to deregulation, while the NDP government and the Minister of Health repeatedly denied it.
“That explanation no longer holds,” said Wat. “The website has now been updated, the HPOA is in force, and the answer is still yes. That is extremely serious. It confirms that the deregulation of Traditional Chinese Medicine prescriptions is real after repeated denial by the NDP government.”
Wat said the most urgent issue is patient safety.
“If someone without proper training, qualifications, or professional oversight prescribes Traditional Chinese Medicine today, and a patient is harmed, who is accountable?” said Wat. “Patients deserve safety, practitioners deserve clarity, and the public deserves to know what protections are actually in place.”
Wat called on the Minister to immediately explain what legal safeguards exist today and whether the government will now admit that deregulation is taking place in practice.
“After repeated denials from the NDP government and the Minister of Health, the new FAQ now makes it clear that deregulation is real,” said Wat. “On the very day this law takes effect, patients are being left unprotected in a dangerous regulatory vacuum. The Minister must stop denying what is plainly happening and take responsibility.”
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