Taiwan’s health ministry has relaxed its rules on which COVID patients can get free doses of a new kind of traditional medicine.
Originally, the herbal formula known as Taiwan Chingguan Yihau was to be available only to people in high-risk groups with confirmed cases of the disease.
But after a backlash from traditional medicine groups, health officials have broadened the criteria to include people with three groups of symptoms. Those are: people with a persistent fever of 39 degrees for two days, people with asthma who have developed a cough, and those with a severe sore throat who are having trouble eating and drinking.
From September 15, they and people in high-risk groups will be eligible for publicly funded doses of Chingguan Yihau.
A small clinical trial recently showed that the herbal formula helps stop patients’ COVID symptoms from getting worse when used alongside conventional medicine.
Health authorities will carry out a review at the end of the month to decide whether to offer the formula to pregnant women and children.