Special report:   2008 Olympic Games 

    BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Traditional Chinese herbal medicine will not be used to treat athletes during the Olympics in order to avoid doping problems, an official with the Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games (BOCOG) said Saturday.

    "It doesn't necessarily mean herbal medicine contains provocative substances. As other Olympic host countries haven't used it before, we choose not to use it too," said Dai Jianping, deputy director of the BOCOG's service department, at an international medical forum.

    As a big international event, the Beijing Olympics will follow international medical service standards, Dai said.

    However, non-drug traditional Chinese treatments, such as acupuncture, cupping and massage, will be used in the Games, he added.

    He also said at the forum that a poly-clinic will be constructed inside the athlete's village, providing medical services for some 16,000 athletes from all over the world in 2008.

    The clinic will be able to provide magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), dental service and physical therapy to athletes who come across health problems during the Olympics, he said.

    "It has a 24-hour working schedule, and all the services are for free as Beijing promised to the International Olympic Committee," he said.

    The 3,000-square-meter poly-clinic, which will finish construction by the end of April 2008, will ease the medical service pressure of hospitals which will still provide normal service to local people during the big event.

    A total of 28 dedicated hospitals, 219 venue medical stations and ambulance stations will be used into the health care services in 2008, and 3,000 medical volunteers, mostly students from medical colleges and institutions, will be trained to provide medical care along with professional doctors and nurses.