Jia Xinhua gives an interview. [Photo/Iqilu News]

Jia Xinhua, a delegate to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which convened on Oct 16, said he is looking to draw attention to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) at the meeting in Beijing. He hopes to promote it more broadly through innovative development.

Jia is a doctor from East China's Shandong province, where he is mainly responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases.

At the beginning of 2020, when COVID-19 broke out, Jia led a rescue team. He then became the leader of the first medical team sent from Shandong to aid Hubei province.

In April this year, Jia was once again seen on the front lines in the fight against another COVID-19 surge. He rushed to Shanghai to help combat the outbreak and served as the deputy leader of the Shandong medical team.

Jia Xinhua (right) at work [Photo/Iqilu News]

Jia said the team used TCM for external treatments, such as herbal steam therapy. He also used the Five-Animal exercise and Eight Trigrams palm boxing methods to help patients recover. Their average hospital stay was 7.1 days, Jia said.

For 50 days, Jia's team successively took over 3,225 beds in three makeshift hospitals and four wards in two designated hospitals, treating 7,363 patients without any fatalities.

Also serving as a teacher at the Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jia hopes to cultivate more talents to inherit and further develop TCM.