Materia Medica Malaysiana

Keep an open mind on traditional medicine, docs told

KUALA LUMPUR: Doctors have been urged to keep an open mind on the use of traditional and complementary medicine in keeping with global trends.

Health Minister Minister Datuk Chua Jui Meng said the philosophy and policy of the World Health Organisation (WHO) was to see greater integration between traditional and complementary medicine and allopathic or western medicine.

“It is the policy of this ministry to promote traditional and complementary medicine, which may or may not be included in health supplements.

“If we were to exclude that, it would not be healthy and not in line with developments in the rest of the world – especially the developed countries, so we hope everyone will keep an open mind,” he told a press conference yesterday.

Chua added that the ministry’s director-general would meet doctors to discuss the issue.

On Monday, Malaysian Medical Association president Dr N. Arumugam was quoted as saying that the association had banned doctors from selling health supplements since last April.

The Malaysian Dietary Supplements Association (Madsa), however, expressed surprise over the ban as it implied that supplements were detrimental to health.

Madsa said supplements that had been on a typical doctor’s prescription list included iron for anaemic patients, calcium for osteoporosis and folic acid for pregnant mothers.

Prestigious medical journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association and New England Journal of Medicine had also supported the use of health supplements, it added.