Herbal product industry gets a boost

Star: KEPALA BATAS: The country is ready to tap the international multi-million ringgit herbal product market.
With that in mind, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi wants further research into its home-grown herbs to give the country’s herbal industry a bigger boost.
“We are blessed with rich natural herbal and marine resources that can be ideally used to produce medicines.
“Our local researchers must work harder to find out to what extent traditional medicine can effectively help cure ailments and diseases,” he said when opening the RM83mil Kepala Batas Hospital here yesterday.
The hospital is also the first in the country to have a traditional and complementary medicine (TCM) unit that offers services according to the traditional medicine practices of the Malay, Chinese and Indian communities.
Abdullah said traditional medicine that has been practised by the Malays, Chinese and Indians since the old days, can be used as an integrative medicine to modern medicine.
In the past, when hospitals were located far from rural areas, he said, traditional medicine was used as ‘first aid’ to treat patients before the arrival of the doctor.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said similar TCM units would be set up at the Putrajaya Hospital by December and at the Sultan Ismail Hospital in Johor by March.
“A few medical officers will soon attend short courses on acupuncture and TCM pharmacy in Beijing, China next year.
“We will also introduce ayurvedic medicine at the TCM units next year, followed by traditional Malay medicine through collaborations with our counterparts in Indonesia,” he said.
Chua said till last year, a total of 7,154 TCM practitioners had registered their practices with the ministry since a TCM division was formed at the ministry in 2004.
“We believe there are about 3,000 to 4,000 more who have yet to register with us,” he said, adding that they could register online via the ministry’s website at http://www. moh.gov.my