Government Laboratory

Analytical and Advisory Services Division

Chinese Medicines Section

About the Section

This Section was established on 7th October 1998. Its major responsibilities are to carry out safety monitoring of proprietary Chinese medicines and Chinese herbal medicines on sale to the public and to conduct development work on analytical methodology.

Responsibilities

This Section examines Proprietary Chinese Medicines and Chinese herbal medicines submitted by the Department of Health.

Proprietary Chinese medicines and Chinese herbal medicines are analyzed for their safety and quality including the determination of pesticide residues and heavy metals/toxic element. Analytical services were also provided to DH in relation to the investigation into the causes of poisoning cases and reports of adverse drug reactions involving the consumption of Chinese medicines.

For the HOKLAS accredited tests undertaken by this section, please click here for details.

Key Personnel

Senior Chemist : Mr. C S Ng
(Tel. No.: 2319-8398 E-mail : csng@govtlab.gov.hk)

Chemist and Chemical Analyst (E-mail address)	Tel. No.
Dr. T C Chan, Chemist (tcchan@govtlab.gov.hk)	2319-8402
Dr. Cindy S W Lau, Chemical Analyst (swlau@govtlab.gov.hk)	2319-8402
Dr. S Y Lau, Chemist (sylau@govtlab.gov.hk)	2319-8401
Dr. Fiona H Y Shiu, Chemical Analyst (hyshiu@govtlab.gov.hk)	2319-8399
Ms. S C Tso, Chemist (sctso@govtlab.gov.hk)	2319-8402
Dr. Simon C M Yau, Chemical Analyst (cmyau@govtlab.gov.hk)	2319-8399
Dr. Michael H P Yau, Chemist (hpyau@govtlab.gov.hk)	2319-8401

Quality Assurance

About 10% of the tests conducted in the Section are for QC purposes.

Key Instruments

The following instruments are used routinely by the Section:

Gas chromatograph with Electron Capture Detector, Flame Photometric Detector and Mass Selective Detector
High Performance Liquid Chromatographs with Evaporative Light Scattering Detector, Photodiode Array Detector and Scanning Fluorescence Detector
UV Spectrophotometer
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer
High Performance Liquid Chromatograph - Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer
High Performance Liquid Chromatograph - Tandem Mass spectrometer
Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometer

Targets and Key Indicators

Key Performance Measures Relating to the Statutory Testing of Chinese Medicines

Targets

Testing of Chinese Medicines	Targets	2009 (Actual)	2010 (Actual)	2011 (Plan)
Chinese Medicines within reporting time averaging 30 working days (%)^*	95	99	98	95

Different samples require different analytical procedures, thus different reporting time applies. The quoted number of working days required represents an average of reporting time for the different types of samples / test requests within the category, while the target (in percentage) is the total compliance rate of the concerned samples / test requests within a particular category against their respective targets.

Key Indicators

Key Indicators for Statutory Testing of Chinese Medicines

Tests Performed on Chinese Medicines	2009 (Actual)	2010 (Actual)	2011 (Estimate)
Chinese Medicines	68,864	95,890	78,800

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