BEIJING -- Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) health care institutions provided diagnoses and treatment to an estimated 1.28 billion people across China in 2023, according to a national TCM meeting that opened on Monday.

By the end of last year, 14 TCM hospitals had become part of China's national-level health care center construction project, and the country's plan to build 138 key TCM hospitals has been advanced on a consistent basis, said Yu Yanhong, head of the National Administration of TCM.

To date, 89 percent of publicly funded general hospitals at or above the grade-two level have been equipped with TCM clinics, as well as 62.8 percent of maternity and children's hospitals, according to statistics released at the meeting.

In 2024, China will mull the formulation of management measures for the development of advanced TCM specialties, and select approximately 150 projects that integrate TCM and Western medicine to tackle major diseases that are difficult to treat, according to the meeting.