A group of visitors from ZhongHua Southern Pharma Sdn Bhd (众花南药（马来西亚）有限公司) visited UTAR Kampar Campus and UTAR Hospital on 20 January 2022. They were led by ZhongHua Southern Pharma Sdn Bhd General Manager Bai XianFeng.

The visitors were cordially welcomed by Director of Traditional and Complementary Medicine (T&CM) Centre of UTAR Hospital Assoc Prof Dr Te Kian Keong. He was accompanied by Chief Pharmacist of UTAR Hospital Project Loo Heng Hoe, UTAR Division of Community and International Networking Deputy Director Dr Chen, I-Chi and staff.

The visit aimed to build rapport and promote mutual understanding between UTAR and ZhongHua Southern Pharma Sdn Bhd besides discussing opportunities for future collaboration between both parties.

The meeting commenced with the presentation of UTAR’s corporate video and Dr Te’s welcome address. Dr Te gave a brief introduction of UTAR and the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and said, “More than 150 graduates have been nurtured since the establishment of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2011. Our TCM graduates have earned a good reputation in the industry. We maintain close ties with institutions in China through TCM collaboration. Therefore, we look forward to the possibility of collaborating with ZhongHua/Sinopharm on the aspects of education, clinical research and R&D.” He also shared the current and future development of UTAR Hospital specifically the T&CM Centre, the development of TCM in Malaysia and the complementary role of TCM during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bai thanked UTAR for the arrangement and gave a brief introduction of ZhongHua Southern Pharma Sdn Bhd. He revealed, “I have always wanted to visit UTAR. I’m glad that I am here today finally. Our company was established in 2014 in Penang Science Park, and we are one of the subsidiary companies from China National Traditional Chinese Medicine Corporation.” He then introduced the company’s focus areas, products and clinical research activities.

The meeting continued with a discussion between both parties. They look forward to possible future collaboration on research, knowledge and equipment sharing, student placement, talent recruitment and training, to name a few.