Guangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Modern Grade III Class A TCM Hospital in South China

Guangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine was founded in 1931. Its predecessor was Guangzhou Police Hospital. It was renamed Guangzhou Public Security Hospital in 1949, Guangzhou Third People’s Hospital in 1956, and officially became Guangzhou Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1960.

In 1995, the hospital was recognized as one of China’s first Grade III Class A traditional Chinese medicine hospitals. It later became a non-directly affiliated hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine in 2004, was renamed The Affiliated TCM Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University in 2020, and added the name “Guangzhou Acupuncture Hospital” in 2021.

The hospital is one of China’s first Grade III Class A traditional Chinese medicine hospitals, a national key hospital with TCM characteristics, and a provincial regional medical center construction output unit. It is also a national standardized training base for TCM residents, a Guangdong postdoctoral innovation base, and the undertaking institution of Guangzhou Medical University’s School of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine.

The hospital has formed a new development pattern of “one hospital with five areas,” including Tianhe Campus, Zhuji Campus, Tongde Campus, Tongde Outpatient Department, and Wuyang Outpatient Department. It also serves as the affiliated unit of Guangzhou Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Guangzhou Medical University Institute of TCM Sleep Medicine.

The hospital has more than 40 featured specialties and a strong clinical specialty system. It has 4 key specialties of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine: acupuncture, oncology, brain disease, and spleen and stomach disease. It also has 3 Guangdong high-level clinical key specialties and 18 Guangdong key TCM specialties or specialty diseases.

In 2024, acupuncture, oncology, spleen and stomach disease, and anorectal medicine were selected as national TCM advantage specialties. The hospital also provides services in brain disease, cardiovascular medicine, vasculitis, nephrology, endocrinology, respiratory medicine, rheumatology, anorectal medicine, orthopedics and traumatology, emergency medicine, and other clinical departments.

The hospital has strong advantages in acupuncture and TCM inheritance. It has 1 national famous TCM doctor studio, 10 provincial famous TCM doctor studios, and 73 municipal famous TCM doctor studios. In 2022, the hospital established the Academician Shi Xuemin National TCM Master Studio and introduced a chief scientist studio led by Xu Nenggui.

The hospital also leads the Guangzhou Acupuncture Medical Quality Control Center and has developed a “1+N” construction plan for Guangzhou’s featured acupuncture hospital system. Its alliance units cover districts across Guangzhou and extend to Dongguan, Meizhou, Yingde, Zhanjiang, Yunfu, and other cities in Guangdong, as well as Guizhou, Qinghai, Guangxi, and other regions.

The hospital has more than 2,000 staff members, including approximately 400 senior-title professionals. It has 16 provincial and municipal famous TCM doctors, and has flexibly introduced 1 academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 4 National TCM Masters, 1 National Famous TCM Doctor, and 2 Qihuang Scholars.

The hospital also has 206 professors and associate professors, 101 doctoral and master’s supervisors, 3 national senior TCM academic experience inheritance instructors, 13 national outstanding TCM clinical talents, and multiple Guangdong TCM clinical talents and inheritance mentors.

The hospital currently has nearly 1,500 open beds. Annual outpatient and emergency visits exceed 1.5 million, and annual discharges reach nearly 50,000. It has well-equipped intensive care units, a large blood purification treatment center, and a brain disease management center.

The hospital continuously improves its comprehensive service capacity in laparoscopic surgery, minimally invasive orthopedic surgery, internal medicine interventional procedures, critical care rescue, and integrated Chinese-Western medicine. Its original “can shi-jing tun” therapy for chronic refractory ulcers has been included in a national textbook of TCM surgery.

The hospital is equipped with advanced medical equipment and systems, including 3.0T superconducting MRI, photon-counting CT, 256-slice high-end spectral spiral CT, digital subtraction angiography systems, automated laboratory processing lines, automated coagulation testing systems, and intelligent drug storage and dispensing systems.

In recent years, the hospital has obtained more than 200 national, provincial, ministerial, municipal, and bureau-level research projects, published more than 1,000 academic papers in domestic and international journals, obtained 33 national patents, and received 16 science and technology achievement awards.

The hospital is a non-directly affiliated hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, the School of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine of Guangzhou Medical University, a national standardized training base for TCM residents, and a Guangdong postdoctoral innovation base. It began standardized TCM physician training in 2002 and became a national standardized training base for TCM general practitioners in 2017.

The hospital has actively participated in disaster relief, flood and earthquake rescue, COVID-19 response, public welfare work, and the development of regional TCM medical alliances. It is also a designated medical insurance hospital in Guangzhou and a Guangdong pilot unit for preventive TCM health services.

"The hospital follows the principle of taking traditional Chinese medicine as the foundation, applying Western medicine for TCM development, and serving patients wholeheartedly."