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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

How to make an appointment

If you would like to make an appointment with a well qualified, insured and professional TCM Acupuncturist or Chinese Medical practitioner go to our list of practitioners.Find the one who you are looking for, or the nearest person to you, and check their contact details. Most members of the PRTCM like to speak to prospective […]

Wearing Masks in the Acupuncture TCM Clinic

For new clients it can be quite daunting to form a relationship with me if they cannot see my face, questions and answers can get lost without accompanying facial expressions. Are they smiling, frowning or stony faced beneath the mask? Does the question asked make sense to the client when they cannot see my face?

Covid-19 (Coronavirus) and attending a TCM practitioner for treatment

According to their individual circumstances and the conditions in their clinics, many members of the PRTCM will continue in practice during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, if it is safe and practicable to do so.

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.

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