"Someone told my husband and we started to buy this product. It really works," she said.

Internationally, China has sent a total of 23,000 medical team workers to 66 countries and regions since 1963, as part of overseas medical aid missions, according to statistics. So far, 11 medical teams have visited Malta over the years.

Two of the TCM doctors work outside of the Centre, running outpatient services at two state-run hospitals, one on Malta and the other on its sister island, Gozo. When it opened in 2008, the TCM clinic at Malta's Mater Dei hospital was the first of its kind at a European public hospital.

Many patients come with one of the problems for which the natural therapies are most effective, referred to the clinic by their regular doctors.

Some of the patients visiting the Malta Centre come only as a last resort, after conventional treatments have failed to cure their problems, the director said.

The director encourages more people to give it a try.

"I hope more (patients) can learn about us and if they have slipped disc, neck problems or arthritis (we can help) because acupuncture and massage is effective for this," Wang said.