The Department of Health has insisted that it will consult the public a second time before it gives the final go ahead to the statutory regulation of practitioners of acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, and some other alternative therapies. This is despite there being what a health department committee says is “an urgent need” to protect the public from unsafe practices.

Mike Pittilo, chairman of the health department’s steering group on the statutory regulation of traditional medicine practitioners, which is urging prompt action, said, “The time for regulation is long overdue. The current incoherent state of affairs is simply not sustainable.

“Without statutory regulation I believe that vulnerable members of the public will be at …