Traditional Chinese medicine clinics and practitioners in Singapore can now apply for a voluntary quality accreditation, and a second round of TCM trials in public hospitals has been lined up.
The TCM Accreditation Programme opened for applications the same day. It has two tracks: TCM Services Accreditation for clinics and other service providers, and TCM Practitioner Accreditation for individual practitioners. The practitioner track is open only to practitioners registered with the TCM Practitioners Board.
The Academy of Chinese Medicine, Singapore (ACMS), based at 705 Serangoon Road, has been appointed as the accrediting body. It takes the applications and keeps searchable lists of accredited clinics and accredited practitioners.
What clinics and practitioners are judged on
Clinics are assessed in eight areas:
- governance
- how TCM services are provided
- the premises
- equipment
- hygiene and infection control
- IT capability
- TCM medications, including how they are prepared and dispensed
- other areas such as incident management and contingency plans
Practitioners are assessed on their qualifications, years of clinical experience, the share of their time now spent in clinical practice in Singapore, their standing with the TCM Practitioners Board, and other work in the field such as teaching or research.
The standards were drawn up with industry stakeholders and cover clinical governance, patient safety, service quality and professional competence. Accreditation is not compulsory, so a clinic without it is not breaking any rule. Fees and how long an accreditation lasts were not part of Saturday’s announcement.
For patients, the change is a second check on top of registration. Until now, the public register showed whether a practitioner was allowed to practise. The new lists will show which clinics and practitioners have also met a set of published standards.
A second call for hospital trials
MOH will also open a second call for proposals under the TCM Integrative Sandbox from 3 November 2026 to 2 November 2029. The sandbox lets public healthcare institutions test evidence-based TCM treatments for specific conditions inside public hospitals, and gather data on patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness to shape future policy.
Seven projects were picked from the first call, launched in 2025, and all are still in progress. Every one of them involves acupuncture:
- drug-resistant epilepsy, led by the National Neuroscience Institute with Singapore General Hospital
- migraine, led by the National Neuroscience Institute with Singapore General Hospital
- cancer-related supportive care, led by National University Hospital’s National Cancer Institute of Singapore with Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Woodlands Hospital
- non-operative knee osteoarthritis, led by Woodlands Hospital with Singapore General Hospital
- female infertility, led by National University Hospital
- stroke rehabilitation, led by Tan Tock Seng Hospital
- cancer-related supportive care, led by the National Cancer Centre Singapore
The two cancer projects look at managing pain, insomnia, fatigue and gastrointestinal problems in patients. Projects chosen in the new round can also test collaborative care models. MOH will publish details of how to apply for the second call on its website before it opens on 3 November.
