Government To Table Special Bill To Regulate Traditional Medicine

Petaling Jaya, Malaysia - The Health Ministry is in the process of drafting a special Traditional and Complementry Medicine (TCM) Bill to regulate the traditional medical profession in the country, the Ministry`s Director of TCM Division, Dr Ramli Ghani, disclosed on Sunday.

He told Bernama that the bill was expected to be tabled in parliament later this year.

“Once the bill is passed, it will allow the ministry to set up a TCM council along the lines of the present Malaysian Medical Council to regulate and register such practitioners,” he said.

At present the registration was voluntary and it could be done on-line. So far 1,000 out of the estimated 12,000 practitioners had registered, he added.

Dr Ramli said the ministry was evaluating the various traditional services and its major concern was safety and that was why only evidence-based TCM was practiced in the integrated hospitals.

At present, TCM was available in three hospitals -- Johore Baharu, Kepala Batas and Purajaya -- as a pilot project in acupuncture, Malay massage and herbal medicine.

As of February, a total of 14,134 new and follow-up cases in the three disciplines had been seen at the TCM unit of the hospitals.

Meanwhile, a registered traditional practitioner, Dr V.M. Palaniappan said the ministry could assist in popularizing the TCM by establishing the working environment which could be similar to those of the western medicine.

He said impressive hospital buildings and facilities should be provided to practice indigenous medicine and the dress codes of these practitioners, nursing assistants and other staff should also be regulated.

Palaniappan said the government could also encourage insurance companies to extend their coverage to TCM.

Other ways in which TCM could be popularzsed are:

• Practitioners, nurses and other staff should be given adequate training and paid salaries on par with their counterparts in the western medicine unit;
• The mode of operation of western medical schools should be followed in teaching TCM in local institutions;
• TCM practitioners should be accorded proper recognition on par with western medicine practitioners and;
• Western medical practitioners should be barred by law to practice TCM.

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