Govt hospitals to offer traditional treatment

NST: JOHOR BARU: Patients will soon have a choice of whether to seek modern or traditional treatment at selected government hospitals.
Sinseh, bomoh and ayurvedic practitioners will be able to treat patients at selected government hospitals following a Health Ministry initiative to incorporate modern and traditional medicines into the national healthcare system. This is to provide more "holistic" medical care.
Health Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Datuk Lee Kah Choon said three hospitals had been identified to set up departments to provide traditional and complementary medicine (TCM).
They are the Kepala Batas Hospital in Penang, the Putrajaya Hospital in the Federal Territory, and the Sultanah Aminah Hospital here.
"The Cabinet has approved this integrated healthcare system and the ministry’s TCM division has been entrusted with recruiting manpower and verifying their professional certificates," he told reporters after opening the Sixth World Symposium on Traditional Chinese Orthopaedics and the World Federation of Traditional Chinese Orthopedics (WFTCO) meeting here yesterday.
Present were China’s ambassador to Malaysia Wang Chun Gui, Johor Baru Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry honorary chairman Tan Sri Low Nam Hui, WFTCO president Sze Zhee, WFTCO deputy chairman Soo Cheng Ren, and Johor Chinese Medicine, Orthopaedics and Acupuncture Association chairman Ong Yi Xin.
A total of 300 Chinese orthopaedists from 24 countries attended the symposium.
The fusion of Western and traditional forms of treatment is popular overseas and in Singapore. It has been adopted as part of modern healthcare as it offers more choices for patients.
In Malaysia, only two private hospitals — the Tung Shin Hospital in Kuala Lumpur and the Lam Wah Ee Hospital in Penang — offer both modern and traditional treatments.
Lee, however, said the ministry had not set a timeframe for TCM adoption, as the first priority was to recruit TCM practitioners.
"The ministry will formulate standard guidelines on the recruitment of the practitioners," he said.
It is learnt that the Health Ministry is considering recognising TCM degrees from Dalian, Shanghai and Beijing in China.
World Health Organisation statistics show that two-thirds of the population in developing countries and more than half in developed countries favour TCM.