PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia will collaborate with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to expand the use of acupuncture as a method for pain-control in healthcare procedures.
This was in line with the Government’s intention to set up more “pain-free” hospitals, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said.
The Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital in Ipoh is one such hospital where traditional and complementary medicine (TCM) techniques are used with modern approaches to provide pain-relief option to patients undergoing surgery.
“WHO has a publication on acupuncture and we are trying to see how we can transfer the knowledge on acupuncture to our Malaysian healthcare.
“Basically, we will need to replace a lot of things, such as the use of morphine and other post-operative pain control, with acupuncture,” Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said during a press conference with Liow yesterday.
In line with the development of TCM in Malaysia, Liow said the Government would offer scholarships to two Malaysian doctors or specialists to pursue the Masters of Acupuncture in Surgical Anesthesia in China.
He also announced that the Public Service Department had officially recognised degree qualifications in TCM from two more Chinese universities.
The universities are Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine and the Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
“Based on the recommendation by the Malaysian Medical Council, the ministry is also pleased to announce that we now recognise medical degrees offered by the Shanghai Jhiao Tong University School of Medicine and the Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University.
“Graduates from these two universities may now directly register with the MMC to practise medicine in Malaysia without having to sit for an eligibility test first,” Liow said.
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