Traditional Medicine in Asia

� Educators and trainers acting in
ignorance of planning and management
have abandoned the logic of
purposeful education and the relevance
of their programmes to the needs of
society;
� Health services managers who act
independently of plans and education
and training have given away their most
important management tools,
including the influencing of the health
personnel they want to utilize.
Defining the characteristics of
graduates of educational and
training programmes
It seems obvious that the roles to be fulfilled
by graduates of educational and training
programmes should serve as a basis for
determining the content and methods of
learning, yet this process is seldom given
careful attention. Most often, the roles are
taken for granted, based largely on
outmoded recollections, or on the assumption
that graduates can adapt to the
situation in which they find themselves.
Furthermore, the training institutions often
do not even consider it necessary to train
students for well-defined roles and
functions. When graduates complain
that their preparation was not adequate,
the programmes are only occasionally
modified.
To ensure the relevance of health
manpower preparation, it is necessary that
there is a full understanding of the personal
and professional competencies, including
the intellectual and practical skills, values,
and attitudes required if health workers are
to function effectively in the settings to which
they are assigned. 5 The development of such
an understanding involves several problems:
� The roles to be filled may not yet exist
but are planned; this is a common
occurrence in evolving health systems;
Development of training programmes for traditional medicine
� The roles have social and managerial
as well as technical aspects that require
an interdisciplinary approach to role
definition and training;
� The roles of each health worker include
establishing and maintaining important
relationships with others, and this
requires consideration of the overall
function of a team as well as training
for teamwork;
� The roles involve close interaction with
communities, which requires not only
an understanding of the nature of that
interaction, but also calls for the
participation of communities in the
process of role definition.
Key questions/issues and some
answers
(1) How can the formal health services
work with traditional practitioners for
the benefit of the population? Why?
Because so far, traditional practitioners
have been excluded from exercising any
responsibility in most national health
services.
(2) How can a traditional medicine
infrastructure be created? Why?
Because, without a clearly defined
infrastructure, through which traditional
health practitioners themselves
could be heard and which could be a
regulatory body in relation to ethical
and professional matters, there is likely
to be chaos.
(3) How to sensitize, orient and use health
professionals and others so that they
may support the national traditional
medicine programme? Why?
Because, if they are brought into a
constructive relationship with the
programme, they will continue with
their biases and hamper Government
efforts to put traditional medicine on a
sound footing.
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