Traditional Medicine in Asia

Traditional Medicine in Asia
medicine but the empiricism, if any, of
traditional medicine also gives way to
rationality.
In the context of primary health care,
the major objective of such research would
be the utilization of local resources in a
more rational manner in meeting the health
care needs of the vast majority of the
population who are beyond the reach of
modern medicine.
Policy and Organization
Several countries in SEAR have formulated
national policies and strategies for research
and development of traditional medicines.
The overall developmental objective is the
utilization of indigenous resources for the
health and well-being of the populations.
Specific objectives are:
� To evaluate, on a scientific basis, the
prevailing health practices and adopt
those in primary health care;
� To complement and enrich modern
health practices by the experiences of
traditional practitioners.
In order to implement the national
policy on herbal medicines, there has to
be a multidisciplinary organization. In such
an organization, the key role of traditional
practitioners must be emphasized. The
organizational structure for such an
integrated approach would involve a
national committee for policy decision or
a high-power board, consisting of botanists,
pharmacologists, pharmacists and
physicians of modern medicine along with
an enlightened practitioner of traditional
medicine, drug manufacturers and representatives
of the drug regulatory agency.
Having verified the therapeutic claim of
herbal medicines, the next step would be to
develop methods of standardization, quality
control and appropriate dosage forms. 6,7
250
Drug Research
Research on herbal drugs as conceived in
modern parlance consists of observations,
discussions and literature review/search,
animal experimentation, chemical fractionation
and clinical evaluation. Opinions
differ on whether it is appropriate to employ
such a scheme for “Plant to Drug” in case
of traditional medicines. Most traditional
systems aim at a holistic approach for the
cure of diseases and therefore most of their
medicines are mixtures of plants, metals
and minerals rather than a single drug as
in modern medicine.
Furthermore, such a drug combination
is conceived by taking into account the
pathogenesis based on the concepts of
health and disease in traditional medicine.
Several drugs are combined with a view to
enhancing the potency of each other or to
mitigate or obligate the adverse effects of
others. Most traditional practitioners have
scant interest in research in herbal
medicines since they firmly believe that such
type of research is not necessary or because
it will perhaps serve to enrich modern
medicine rather than traditional medicine.
In spite of such views, there is a
constant search for medicines from herbal
sources. In the last two centuries, several
drugs having a high therapeutic value have
been derived from plants, for example,
digoxin from digitalis, eserine from calabar
beans, reserpine from the roots of
R.serpentina, etc. Such drugs have not
only entered the therapeutic armamentarium
of modern physicians but also have
served as tools to understand the physiology
and pathogenesis of diseases.
“Plant to drug” research has often
proceeded according to the following
scheme: