Yes. Chinese herbal medicines sold in Australia are regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), and the practitioners who prescribe them are, when registered, bound by guidelines published by the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia. There are two layers, then: one for the products, and one for the person writing the prescription.
People often ask me this before they ask anything about the herbs themselves, and I think that is the right order. So here is the picture as plainly as I can give it. It is not legal advice, and the rules are refined from time to time, but the shape of it has been stable for years.
The products: the TGA and the Register
The TGA is the Commonwealth body that regulates medicines in Australia, and Chinese herbal medicines fall within its remit. Products that meet the TGA’s requirements are listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG).
Being on the Register is about the product as a product: how it was manufactured, what it contains, how it is labelled. It is a manufacturing and quality framework. A formula made up by a practitioner for one named patient is treated differently from a packaged product, and the ingredients still fall under the TGA’s rules on what may be used, which is one reason the second layer below matters so much. It is not a statement that a given herb suits a given person. That is a separate question, and it is the one a herbal medicine consultation exists to answer.
The practitioner: the Chinese Medicine Board
The Chinese Medicine Board of Australia is the national board that registers acupuncturists and Chinese medicine practitioners, working within the scheme most people know through AHPRA. The Board publishes guidelines for safe Chinese herbal medicine practice that registered practitioners must follow.
Those guidelines cover the practical side of prescribing. In broad terms they deal with:
- Dispensing: how a formula is prepared and supplied, and the checks involved.
- Labelling: what must appear on the container, so that you, your GP and your pharmacist can see what is in it.
- Record-keeping: what a practitioner records about each prescription and keeps on file.
- Restricted herbs: substances that carry specific limits or conditions on their use, and the care required around them.
The Board also sets the standards for registration itself: the qualifications a practitioner must hold, the professional development they must keep up, and the codes of conduct they are expected to meet.
What “AHPRA-registered” means for the person prescribing
When I describe myself as an AHPRA-registered acupuncturist and Chinese medicine practitioner, it means my registration is current, is public, and can be checked on the AHPRA register by anyone. It means I have met the Board’s qualification requirements, that I keep up the training the Board requires, and that I am bound by its guidelines, including the herbal medicine ones above.
It also means there is somewhere to go if something goes wrong. A registered practitioner can be the subject of a complaint to AHPRA, and that accountability is, to my mind, the most useful thing registration gives a patient. It is worth being clear that “naturopath” is not a registered title in Australia. My naturopathy work is unregistered in the same way every naturopath’s is, which is one reason I keep the Chinese medicine framework at the centre of how I dispense herbs.
How this differs from buying herbs online
Herbs are easy to buy. A search will turn up formulas by name, patent pills in boxes, loose herbs by the kilo. Some of it comes from reputable suppliers. The difficulty is that from a screen you usually cannot tell which.
The differences between a prescription from a registered practitioner and a purchase from an unregistered seller come down to the two layers above.
- With a registered practitioner, the products used sit within the TGA framework, and the person prescribing is accountable to the Board for what they dispense and how they label and record it.
- With an unregulated seller, one or both layers may be missing. A product may not be on the Register at all. It may not have been made to Australian manufacturing standards. Nobody has taken a history, asked about your medicines, or is answerable if the formula is wrong for you.
None of that is a claim that every product bought online is unsafe. It is a claim that you cannot tell, and that with a prescription you can. The medication question alone, which I cover in Chinese herbs and your prescription medicines, is reason enough to want someone accountable on the other side of the counter.
How I source and dispense
Every formula I prescribe is written for the individual after a consultation, labelled with what it contains, and recorded in your file. I source mainly from established Taiwanese manufacturers (KODA, Evergreen and Regal) and from Herbal International, and I dispense mostly as granules, with pills, capsules, raw herbs or liquid extracts when a patient’s situation calls for them. Granules are the simplest to take: a measured spoon dissolved in hot water, much like making a coffee. The forms a prescription can take, and how each is used, are covered in how herbal medicine is prescribed, so I will not repeat that here.
If you ever want to see the label, the supplier or the record of what you were given, ask. That transparency is the practical meaning of regulation, and it is what I would want as a patient myself.
Ready to book?
If you would like to discuss herbal medicine with a registered practitioner, book an initial consultation through the online booking page or call (02) 9341 5775. Bring your medication list and any herbs you already take, and we will go through them together.
Ahil Naturopath/Acupuncture is a clinic located near Redfern, Alexandria and Waterloo. We also service areas across Sydney including Botany, Camperdown, Darlinghurst, Erskineville, Eveleigh, Mascot, Newtown, Rosebery, Surry Hills and Zetland.
We offer Acupuncture, Naturopathy, Herbal medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Cupping, Gua Sha (Scraping) and Moxibustion services in South-East, Eastern and Inner City of Sydney.
This article is general information only and is not a substitute for individual advice from a qualified health practitioner. If you have a health concern, please see your GP or book a consultation.