A think tank and university found moderate knowledge on the part of the public of herbal remedies following the city's first Chinese medicine health literacy survey carried out to take the pulse of the city's efforts to transform the sector.

Following the launch by the Our Hong Kong Foundation and Polytechnic University, Dicky Chow, head of healthcare and social innovation at the foundation, said on Thursday the survey was geared towards achieving two objectives

"We hope people will gain more understanding of Chinese medicine philosophy and also its principles so that they can apply all this knowledge in their daily life," he said.

"And second, for the government side, we hope that this can complement its policies, development and also to understand what are the directions for the promotional programmes and promotional strategies so that they can achieve more effective policies in the future."

The survey of 800 people found an overall literacy score of about 70 out of 100, indicating room for improvement in basic concepts, treatment-related knowledge and understanding of regulations.

It found that while more than 85 percent of respondents were able to apply advice from practitioners, 40 percent said they had difficulty in differentiating proprietary Chinese medicines from health supplements.

Around one third were unsure whether they could obtain a legally valid sick-leave certificate from a practitioner while over one quarter did not know how to lodge complaints or give feedback over consultation services they had received.

The report recommends the government draw on the mainland experience and use the scale of public understanding indicated by the survey as a standard assessment tool, enabling regular monitoring of Chinese medicine literacy and identifying groups with low scores for targeted support.

The researchers also called on universities and training institutions to enhance Chinese medicine content in healthcare curricula, adding that 20 percent to 30 percent of the public obtain information on herbal treatments from healthcare professionals, whose curriculum provided only limited training in the eastern discipline.