Chinese Vice Premier attends groundbreaking ceremony for traditional Chinese medicine center in Budapest

Visiting Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong attends the groundbreaking ceremony for a new building of the Semmelweis University's Faculty of Health Sciences in Budapest, the capital of Hungary on June 18, 2017.[Photo/Xinhua]

"I hope that the Chinese medicine center will not only impart knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medicine, but also show the traditional Chinese culture and philosophical wisdom, and promote the cooperation in Traditional Chinese Medicine between China and Hungary to become a bright 'business card' to deepen the health cooperation between the two countries and to promote cultural exchanges between them," she said.

State Secretary of the Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities Bence Retvari also said at the ceremony "This step is not only an important cornerstone for the Hungarian education, but also for the Chinese-Hungarian medical cooperation," adding "Traditional Chinese Medicine is going to play an important role in education, in research and also in healing."

Liu Yandong listened to the introduction of Traditional Chinese Medicine educational cooperation between the Semmelweis University in Budapest and the Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine in Harbin in northeast China, and the preparations of the Central and Eastern European Traditional Chinese Medical Education and Training Center to be built. She also visited the Traditional Chinese Medicine classrooms and observed the students' clinical practice.

In 2010, the two universities signed a cooperation agreement for jointly starting a five-year TCM program in order to train Hungarian TCM professionals.

The program follows a "4+1" model, that is, students study the TCM program at the Faculty of Health Sciences, in the Semmelweis University for the first four years, and complete clinical practice at the Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine in the fifth year.

The first batch of Hungarian graduates have successfully completed their studies and obtained their diplomas in 2016. The two sides renewed their cooperation agreement in 2017.