Gaofang season begins at TCM hospitals
Dr Yang Yueya checks a foreigner before prescribing gaofang at Yiyang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital.
The annual gaofang season has begun at local traditional Chinese medicine hospitals and pharmacies, where more than 300,000 units of the herbal paste are prescribed every year.
Gaofang is a TCM reinforcing therapy taken by people in winter. It's a jelly-like medicine made from condensed liquid herbal medicine which is prescribed individually according to each patient's condition.
Prescriptions usually begin in autumn, as it takes time to prepare and process the substance.
People in poor health and those who want to improve their physical condition are the main consumers of gaofang, which has seen a 10 percent increase in demand annually in recent years.
In addition to local residents, hospitals also have foreign patients seeking gaofang prescriptions.
"There are some misunderstanding about gaofang," said Yang Yueya of the Yiyang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital. "It is wrong to randomly pick gaofang prescriptions at pharmacies without consulting a professional TCM doctor or only choose expensive herbal materials."
Gaofang is a medicine, she said, and it is wrong to take it just like food without professional direction.
