The Chinese have long placed their faith in herbal medicine, and traditional Chinese medical science was widely trusted by the early settlers of Hong Kong in preference to Western medicine.
When the Chinese inhabitants fell ill, traditional Chinese medicine was their cure.
After the Tung Wah Hospital was officially opened in 1872, both patients in its wards and outpatients were treated with Chinese medicine.
However, with the passing of the Medical Registration Ordinance in 1884, the practice of Western medicine began to dominate the scene, forcing herbal medicine more or less into the background.
The trend was confirmed in the Great Plague of 1894, when Western medical science played a major role in ensuring the health of Hong Kong's inhabitants. By 1896, the Tung Wah Hospital also started to adopt Western medicine.
Credit : History Museum of HK.
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