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The PRTCM is an Irish-based professional body founded in 1983 to promote and protect the professional interests and medical standards of fully qualified practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine throughout Ireland and in the UK, thereby to foster the highest quality of TCM health-care for the public.

It was the first such professional body in Ireland whose members are recognised, for the provision of Acupuncture treatments, by VHI Healthcare, Laya Healthcare, Irish Life Health and the other principal health insurance providers.

This site is designed to provide members of the public with the information they require to select a fully qualified and fully insured practitioner of Acupuncture TCM or, indeed, one of the other TCM therapy options such as Chinese Herbal Medicine or Medical Qigong.

Details about each of the main TCM therapies is provided, as well as information about finding a practitioner, making an appointment, and attending for treatment.

TCM News and Research

New Medical Qigong Graduates added to the PRTCM register

We at the PRTCM are happy to inform you that four of our TCM practitioner members on the register have completed post graduate training and are now qualified Medical Qigong (MQG) Practitioners. Some, already qualified, MQG Practitioners have completed further training and are now qualified at a specialist level. What is Medical Qigong (MQG) […]

How to make an Acupuncture appointment

If you would like to make an Acupuncture appointment with a professionally qualified and insured TCM Acupuncturist or Chinese Medical Practitioner, visit this list of practitioners to find the one that is in a location nearest to you. What to expect in an appointment The initial consultation can typically last anything between thirty and […]

Why people get Acupuncture TCM Treatment

TCM is a holistic system of medicine that has been used successfully for thousands of years. It works to activate and sometimes even generate the body's defence mechanisms. It is a natural medicine that activates the potential that is in the human body to heal. The same techniques or prescriptions have been used for more […]

World Health Organisation (WHO) and Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has, over the years, provided information about some aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Acupuncture in its numerous publications.
Last year one of our members gave us some advance notice that the WHO was planning to include traditional medicines in its International Classification of Diseases in 2019.

Irish President Michael D Higgins receiving the PRTCM founder in June 2016

On 3 June 2016, the Founder of the Professional Register of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Prof Tom Shanahan, was honoured to meet the Irish President at the Presidential palace. Tom Shanahan founded the PRTCM in 1983, and since then has been promoting Traditional Chinese Medicine in all its forms, in Ireland, Europe and beyond. During the […]

What is Acupuncture TCM?

Acupuncture is part of an ancient and sophisticated form of medical treatment called Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which originated in China but has increasingly spread throughout the world.

It is important to realise that acupuncture is only a part of Chinese medicine - to imagine that Acupuncture is TCM is as mistaken as to imagine that, say, surgery is western medicine.