The Government Chinese Medicines Testing Institute is actively seeking closer collaboration with other research institutes across the Greater Bay Area (GBA), a health official said during a media visit to its new permanent premises on Thursday.

The institute relocated last month from its temporary site at Science Park to a larger facility in Tseung Kwan O, located next to the Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong.

The new base features a Chinese medicines herbarium displaying around 3,500 specimens, consisting of local and mainland species donated by the central government, as well as an outdoor herbal garden growing more than 170 types of medicinal plants.

As part of the process for species identification, the laboratory has the city’s first digital specimen scanner, which can scan up to nine specimens at once, creating contact-free digital copies and records to avoid damage to the samples.

Assistant Director of Health Dr Edmund Fong said the institute will leverage its advanced facilities and broad collections of Chinese medicine specimens to strengthen partnerships across the GBA.

“We are planning to have more joint research with other research institutes in the Greater Bay Area on Chinese medicine. For example, the testing of chemical ingredients and also the safety parameters of Chinese medicines,” he said.

“We have set up the International Collaboration and Cooperation Centre, which serves as the training hub in the Greater Bay Area and also in the region. We aim at providing more training opportunities for all Chinese medicine scientists in Hong Kong and in the Greater Bay Area.”

Apart from research, the facility also holds guided tours for groups and schools.

Fong noted that since its opening last month, the institute has already hosted 30 visiting groups, with 50 more scheduled.

“We are now still exploring how to accommodate the requests from different visiting groups because we are receiving a wide variety of visitors,” he said.

“For example, some of them may be primary school students and some of them may be scientists in Chinese medicine. So, we have to cater the needs and also tailor-make the content for the visit so that they can gain the most from the visit.”

Looking ahead, Fong said the institute will try to add more specimens of western herbal medicines, as well as those from South East Asia to its collections for research.

The institute will also partner with Chinese medicine programmes at local universities to offer training in testing and analysing Chinese medicines and collaborate in research, he added.