Traditional Medicine in Asia

Traditional Medicine in Asia
level of the Qualifying Examination. After
passing, they can proceed to the second
level of Special License Examination. On
passing the second level of examination,
graduates can obtain the Chinese
Medicine Physician (CMP) license. The two
licenses, CMPLE and CMPSLQE, carry the
same privileges and there is no way for
patients to distinguish between the two. 5
Debate in Taiwan on improving
Chinese medicine focused on whether the
Government should begin with research or
build a medical school. Characteristic of
many governments, research was given
priority and the Government established
the National Chinese Medicine and Drugs
Research Centre. Establishing a Chinese
medical school was left to the private sector.
The resultant China Medical College –
established in 1958 – is the only such
college in Taiwan and has been considered
to have been under-funded and inadequately
equipped.
Recommendations made by The
Commission on Health Research for
Development, 39 for strengthening essential
national research, such as the support and
cooperation from industrialized nations,
should also extend to the area of research
in TRM and its integration. It has been
argued that the global community should
promote cooperation and information
exchange centred on integration
strategies. 5
In Africa and the Americas, traditional
and indigenous medicine is informal, in
some cases operating under a Monopolistic
170
“Healers have for long been treated like
trees on savanna farms - not formally
cultivated, yet valued and used,
particularly by women and children”.
Last & Chavanduka (1986) in The
Professionalisation of African Medicine.
situation controlled by orthodox Western
medicine. In others, a more Tolerant
situation exists, but in the absence of official
recognition or health sector investment in
development. The same applies to indigenous
medical traditions in Australia.
Traditional Medicine and the
Formal Health sector in Africa
There has been a long-reported willingness
on the part of traditional healers in Africa
to collaborate with the formal sector and
to establish joint training. Burnett, et al.,
(1999) note that 37 of the 39 traditional
healers (94%) and 14 of the 27 formal
health workers (52%) interviewed in a
Zambian study were keen to collaborate
in training and patient care relating to
HIV/AIDS. 40
However, this is not generally a
reciprocal view. Although one per cent of
nurses in South Africa are reported to be
traditional healers, rural nurses in
Swaziland perceived themselves as being
teachers to healers, but not learning from
healers. They saw themselves as a source
of referral for healers, but not the reverse. 41
One view is that it may be more
appropriate to work towards a system of
cooperation between two independent
systems, with each recognizing and
respecting the character of the other. (42)
This has been the policy in Botswana,
where parallel development has been
encouraged, since it is felt that one or other
of the two systems might suffer in the
process of integration. 40
WHO policies of the late 1970s and
1980s have promoted the establishment
of associations of traditional healers in
Africa. During the 1990s, NGOs of traditional
health practitioners – associations,
small groups, clinics, etc. – have grown
exponentially in Africa, playing a partnership
role in HIV/AIDS education and care, 43 in