A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-listed company, China Traditional Chinese Medicine Holdings Co Ltd (00570.hk) signed an agreement on July 5 with 130 community medical centers in Nanhai district, Foshan city, Guangdong province, for supplying medicinal herb slices and decocted medicinal herbs.

"These community medical centers collectively processed 400,000 TCM prescriptions last year and are expected to generate 30 million yuan in herbal pieces per annum," said Xiao Qingxin, general manager of Sinopharm Group Feng Liao Xing (Foshan) Medicinal Material & Slices Co, Ltd, which will provide the decoction pieces.

After receiving prescriptions from medical centers, the company will prepare and distribute the herbal pieces and TCM decoction to patients through courier services. The patients can monitor the status via an app created by the company.

The company already supplies such products to Foshan Hospital of TCM.

"This one-stop service, through an intelligent distribution system, can save patients from standing in long lines in hospitals, and reduce the workload of pharmacies at medical centers," Xiao said.

"The data generated from the system will benefit research in several related fields, including TCM standardization," he said Online healthcare consulting platform powered by artificial intelligence technology will be one of the potential business opportunities.

"Targeting cities that have at least 1 million population, the company aims to establish 30 smart distribution centers around the country," said Vice-President of the company Huang He. Currently, there are six such centers under operation.