Forum: Besides TCM, study other traditional methods for healthcare
Patients often tell me they get relief, from minor indispositions to medical problems, using traditional methods after they tried the normal Western medical methodology which seemed to have failed them.
The Ministry of Health already has a framework of standards for using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as part of public healthcare. While it is actively researching the efficacy of other TCM methods in treating afflictions, we should also study traditional modes of therapy adopted by other countries.
India is a good example.
The practice of Ayurvedic therapy, involving a holistic process of herbal medicine, dietary rebalancing, yoga, massage and purification programmes, has long kept India, with its population beyond a billion people, hale, hearty and fecund.
Shouldn't we study and research these in detail too and then add them to our models of treatment?
In our multiracial society, we should be able to accept and incorporate more than one set of traditional medical methodologies into the national healthcare system.
Dr Yik Keng Yeong
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