Traditional Medicine in Asia

Legislation and Regulation
� Control of practices of Unani and
Ayurvedic Practitioners – Since the
beginning, the Government of
Bangladesh has been keen to develop,
promote, protect and control the
practice of Unani and Ayurvedic
Medicine. The Homoeopathic,
Ayurvedic and Unani Practitioners Act
of 1965 was revised in 1983 and two
Acts were enacted in 1983 – the
Homoeopathic Practitioners Act and
the Unani and Ayurvedic Practitioners
Act. The Unani and Ayurvedic Board
was formed under these Acts. The
Board is responsible for the implementation
of Government objectives for the
development, promotion and protection
of traditional medicine besides
supporting research in this field;
� Unani and Ayurvedic Drug and Acts –
The Unani and Ayurvedic drug industry
had been outside the purview of the
Drugs Act of 1940. On 12 June
1982, the Government of Bangladesh
promulgated the “Drugs (control)
Ordinance, 1982” to control the
manufacture, import, distribution and
sale of drugs. Section 3(d) of the
ordinance reads: “Drug” shall have the
same meaning as in the Act and shall
also include any substance exclusively
used or prepared for use in accordance
with the Ayurvedic, Unani and
Homoeopathic or Biochemist systems
of medicine;
� National Formularies for Unani and
Ayurvedic Medicines – The Bangladesh
Unani and Ayurvedic Board, under the
authority vested in it by the Bangladesh
Unani and Ayurvedic Ordinance (Act.)
83, has compiled two formularies, viz.,
National Formulary for Unani Medicine
and National Formulary for Ayurvedic
Traditional medicine in Bangladesh
Medicines. These two medical systems
have formularies for commercial
production. Approximately 50 per cent
of these formulae are manufactured in
the traditional medicine factories. These
traditional preparations are controlled
by the Drug Administration Directorate.
Registered practitioners can, by virtue
of their registration, manufacture on a
small-scale the medicines they need for
their own patients.
Medicinal Plants
Medicinal plants are the major ingredients
of Unani and Ayurvedic medicines. The
geographical location, climate and
topographic conditions of Bangladesh
helps the growth of most of these plants
locally in different areas of the country.
However, due to continuous massive
deforestation, destruction of homestead
trees/plantations, frequent natural
disasters, commercial mono-culture
plantations, etc., the availability of most of
these precious medicinal plants will be
reduced, and these plants may even be in
danger of extinction. If such a trend
continues, these plants will scarcely be
available locally to meet the needs of the
manufacturing plants in the near future.
In Bangladesh there are approximately
5000 plants, of which 1500 to 2000
plants are covered through different
ethnobotanical and ethnomedicinal
surveys. Conservatively, a minimum of
1000 plants have medicinal value.
Integration into the National
Health Care System
The Government of Bangladesh has
created facilities to provide alternative
medical care in the existing Government
hospitals at the district level along with
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