Short answer. Traditional Chinese Medicine is regulated in Singapore by the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board, a statutory board under the Ministry of Health, set up on 7 February 2001 under the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Act 2000. The Board registers two groups: TCM physicians, who may also practise acupuncture, and acupuncturists. Massage services such as tui na and foot reflexology, when given by someone who is not a registered TCM practitioner, sit under a different regime entirely: the Massage Establishment licence issued by the Singapore Police Force. Both are real regulation. They are not the same thing, and knowing which one applies to the shop you are standing in is the useful part.
Traditional Chinese Medicine in Singapore is regulated, and has been since 2001. What confuses people is that two separate frameworks apply depending on who is treating you and what they are doing. A registered TCM physician diagnosing your back pain is regulated by the Ministry of Health. A massage therapist working on the same back is regulated by the Police. This explains which is which, and how to check the person about to treat you in roughly a minute.
Who regulates TCM in Singapore
The Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board, usually shortened to TCMPB, is the regulator. It was established on 7 February 2001 as a statutory board within the Ministry of Health, under the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Act 2000. Its statutory job is narrow and specific: approve or reject registration applications, accredit TCM courses and the institutions that run them, set continuing education standards, and regulate the conduct and ethics of registered persons.
Registration was phased in. Acupuncturists came first in 2001, TCM physicians followed in 2002, and from January 2004 anyone practising TCM has had to be registered with the Board and hold a valid practising certificate.
One detail surprises most people: TCM clinics themselves are not licensed in Singapore. The Board registers individual practitioners, not premises. So a clinic is only as regulated as the people working in it, which is why checking the person matters more than checking the signboard.
Which practitioners must register
The Board maintains two registers. The first is for TCM physicians, who may also practise acupuncture. The second is for acupuncturists, and that one is currently open only to Singapore-registered doctors and dentists. There is no third register for massage therapists, tui na therapists or reflexologists, because those are not registrable practices under the Act.
The bar for a TCM physician is high, and worth knowing about before you decide the title means little. An applicant needs a five-year full-time bachelor’s degree in TCM, either from a local institution such as the Singapore College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Institute of Chinese Medical Studies or Nanyang Technological University, or from one of a short list of approved universities in China. On top of the degree, they must pass the TCMPB Qualifying Examination, which is conducted in Chinese. Candidates get a maximum of four attempts within five or six years depending on when they graduated. The Board introduced supplementary examinations in 2025 and is moving the assessment to a Clinical Competency Assessment format by 2027.
That is a decade of study and examination before anyone can call themselves a registered TCM physician here. It is a genuine credential, not a courtesy title.
What registration does not cover: massage, tui na and reflexology
Here is the part most articles skip. Foot reflexology and general body massage are not regulated by the TCM Practitioners Board, because they are not registrable practices under the Act. They are regulated instead by the Singapore Police Force under the Massage Establishments Act 2017.
The boundary is drawn precisely. Under the Massage Establishments (Exemption) Order 2018, premises are exempt from needing a Massage Establishment licence where the massage is administered by an individual registered under section 14 of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Act 2000 who holds a practising certificate in force under section 17 of that Act. Put plainly: if a registered TCM practitioner does the massage, the shop does not need a Police licence. If someone who is not TCM-certified does it, the shop must hold a Massage Establishment licence from the Police.
This is enforced. Between February and April 2025 the Police checked 181 TCM outlets and found eleven where non-certified people were administering massage without the required licence, plus one outlet involved in vice offences.
So the honest answer to “is my massage therapist regulated” is yes, but by the Police rather than by the Ministry of Health, and through the shop’s licence rather than through a personal registration.
| Registered TCM physician | Massage or reflexology therapist | |
|---|---|---|
| Regulated by | TCM Practitioners Board, under the Ministry of Health | Singapore Police Force, under the Massage Establishments Act 2017 |
| Legal basis | Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Act 2000 | Massage Establishments Act 2017 and the Exemption Order 2018 |
| Qualification | Five-year TCM degree plus the TCMPB Qualifying Examination | No statutory qualification; training is set by the employer |
| What is regulated | The individual person | The premises, through its licence |
| How you verify | MOH public register, by name | The shop’s Massage Establishment licence |
| May diagnose and set a TCM treatment plan | Yes | No |
What changes in the second half of 2026
The Massage Establishment regime is tightening, and the changes take effect in the second half of 2026. The Police announced in April 2026 that they will remove the exemption for open-concept massage establishments and replace it with a new Category 3 licence.
Open-concept operators, which covers most of the foot reflexology shops you see in malls, will have to meet the “fit and proper” test already applied to other licence categories, obtain land use approval, and keep the space genuinely open, with no rooms, partitions or cubicles. Existing operators get a grace period to obtain the new licence.
The change that matters most to you as a customer is the poster. Every licensee will have to display a Police-issued poster at the shopfront showing the licence number and a URL for reporting breaches. Failure to display it will be an offence. From the second half of 2026, that poster is the fastest way to tell a licensed massage establishment from an unlicensed one, and you can check it from outside the shop before you go in.
How to check a practitioner is registered
The Ministry of Health runs a free public search. You can look up any registered TCM practitioner by name on the MOH professional register. If the person treating you is presented as a TCM physician and their name is not there, that is worth a question.
Two practical notes. The register lists practitioners under their legal names, so someone known professionally by an English name may not be the first result you find, and it is fair to ask the clinic which name to search. And a clinic that will not tell you the registered name of its physician when asked has answered your question anyway.
What this means at My Father’s Feet
We would rather be straight about this than let the word “TCM” on a signboard do work it has not earned.
Most of our therapists across our outlets are massage therapists, not registered TCM physicians. They give foot reflexology and body massage, and they are good at it, but they are not diagnosing you and they are not registered with the TCM Practitioners Board, because that registration does not exist for the work they do. Our pain care outlet is different. MFF TCM Kovan has a registered TCM physician on site, which is why the assessment-led treatments sit there rather than being offered everywhere.
That difference shapes what we will and will not claim. We do not offer acupuncture at any outlet, and we do not prescribe herbal medicine. Tui Na is manual therapy, and a session usually eases stiffness and referred tension rather than curing an underlying condition. Cupping leaves round marks that look like bruises and gua sha leaves red patches, both of which take roughly three to seven days to fade. We say so before you book, not after.
If you want to understand what the treatments actually do before choosing one, our guide to TCM pain relief in Singapore covers the techniques in detail, and foot reflexology is explained separately because it is a different thing from a TCM consultation.
Frequently asked questions
Is TCM legal in Singapore?
Yes. Traditional Chinese Medicine is legal and regulated. TCM physicians and acupuncturists must be registered with the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board and hold a valid practising certificate, under the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Act 2000.
Do massage therapists need to be registered TCM practitioners?
No. Massage, tui na and foot reflexology are not registrable practices under the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Act. Where the person giving the massage is not a registered TCM practitioner, the premises must instead hold a Massage Establishment licence from the Singapore Police Force.
How do I check whether a TCM physician is registered?
Search their name on the Ministry of Health public register for TCM practitioners. It is free and open to anyone. If a practitioner is presented as a TCM physician but does not appear on the register, ask the clinic to explain before you accept treatment.
Are TCM clinics licensed in Singapore?
No. The Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board registers individual practitioners rather than premises, and TCM clinics are not currently licensed. A clinic offering massage by non-registered staff does need a Massage Establishment licence from the Police.
What qualifications does a registered TCM physician need?
A five-year full-time bachelor’s degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine from an approved local or Chinese institution, followed by a pass in the Qualifying Examination run by the Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board. Candidates have a maximum of four attempts within five or six years depending on their graduation year.
Is acupuncture regulated separately?
Acupuncture falls under the same Act. Registered TCM physicians may practise acupuncture, and there is a separate acupuncturist register that is currently open only to Singapore-registered doctors and dentists. My Father’s Feet does not offer acupuncture at any outlet.
What is changing for massage shops in 2026?
From the second half of 2026 the exemption for open-concept massage establishments is being replaced by a new Category 3 licence from the Singapore Police Force. Licensees will have to display a Police-issued poster showing their licence number, and failing to display it will be an offence.
Quick questions before you book
Does a shop calling itself TCM have to have a registered physician on site?
No, and this is the gap worth knowing about. The word TCM on a signboard is not a regulated term in the way “registered TCM physician” is. Ask whether a registered physician is on site, and at which outlet, before assuming.
If I want a diagnosis rather than a massage, where should I go?
To an outlet with a registered TCM physician. A massage therapist can work on tight muscles; only a registered practitioner can assess you and set a treatment plan. Our back pain and neck and shoulder pain pages explain which presentations are worth an assessment rather than a general massage.
What if I have a medical condition or take blood thinners?
Tell us before the session, and check with your doctor first. Some techniques are not suitable, and we would rather decline and refer you than treat you and hope.
Where to go from here
If you are choosing a place for pain rather than for relaxation, the two questions that separate a considered choice from a guess are whether a registered TCM physician is on site, and whether the premises hold the right licence for who is doing the work. Both are checkable in a couple of minutes, and from the second half of 2026 the shopfront poster makes the second one checkable from the pavement.
Our TCM pain care sits at MFF TCM Kovan, where a registered TCM physician assesses first and treats second. The first-visit TCM Pain Relief Tui Na Massage is $88, usual $148. Reflexology and body massage at our other outlets start from $38++.
The Clinical Team at MFF TCM Kovan
Written and reviewed by the clinical team at MFF TCM Kovan, the pain care outlet of My Father's Feet. A Traditional Chinese Medicine physician registered with the TCM Practitioners Board of Singapore is on site there, and treatment begins with an assessment rather than a booking slot. My Father's Feet does not offer acupuncture and does not prescribe herbal medicine at any outlet. Nothing here is a diagnosis or a substitute for seeing a doctor.