World Health Organization suggests that protection and preservation of traditional Medicine (TM) knowledge is essential to ensure access to traditional forms of health care and respect for those who hold traditional medical knowledge. As well as being accessible and affordable, TM is also often part of wider belief system, and considered integral to everyday life and well-being, and integration of TM with national health care systems, as appropriate, by developing and implementing national TM policies and programs is important.
The life of the patients is more precious, and it cannot be classified as an Ayurvedic and allopathic. It is the right of the patients to get appropriate and cost effective service, which is the most effective, appropriate within minimum cost and minimum dosage of the drugs. Past few decades passed in debating whether the traditional medicine should be incorporated into national health stream. The Alma Ata declaration –Health for all by 2000 and its failure has proved that excessive reliance on modern medical system is not adequate to improve the health status of the people and it is essential to see the fact of other side that can offer something to the human being for their wellbeing. Developing countries like Nepal neither can afford cost of importing drugs nor able to establish modern technology. Therefore health delivery services in Nepal have still been dependent either on donation or on loan. Unless the local resources and indigenous knowledge promoted and developed, this situation remains continue. Improve in health status can hardly expect.
The analysis of traditional health policy provides an interesting example of failure of global health governance and raises many additional questions for consideration. However, with the expansion and domination of western colonial power during the 19th century, indigenous practices were suppressed. In country context, Ayurveda has provided valuable health care to the majority of population for centuries. More than eighty percent of the total populations still rely on Ayurveda based traditional medicine. However, majority of the national budget is allocated for the health sector absorbed by biomedical services, which has been assessing less than 20pc people of Nepal.
In China, health delivery services are integrated in such manner that more than 95% hospitals provide both traditional and modern services. A doctor decides the appropriate treatment and offers all the possible methods to the patients whether traditional Chinese medicine is enough or needs to apply modern drugs also. So the patients are benefited at least in 3 ways. First, they get appropriate treatment whether traditional or modern medicine is best for him; second, this would be more economic and affordable; third, it avoids unnecessary and high dosages of chemicals which have adverse effect for human body. And nation also benefited at least in two ways. First, century old traditional medicine and technology is preserved; second, utilization of local resources generate national income and reduce the volume of modern drugs need to be imported.
Nepal faces considerable domestic difficulties as well as a variety of constraints in developing and implementing a comprehensive integrated health care system. The government squarely accepts responsibility for the failing of the health system. Both domestic and external factors impeded the process of integration. In brief; first, lack of clear and consistent policy on TM and its role in the national health system; second, confusion and misunderstanding about the concept of PHC, the role of TM and avenues for effective integration; third, proliferation of donor bodies over the past few decades; fourth, concentration of NGOs and donor bodies in urban areas exacerbates geographical disparities in service access; fifth, conflict between objectives of donor bodies, international organizations (e.g. WHO, WB) and the national government; last but not least, foreign policy of donor nations is often tied to international aids.
Recommendation
All medical colleges should start introductory courses in traditional and complementary medicines. Choices in modern and traditional/complementary medicines should be made available in all hospitals. Units for delivering services in traditional and complementary medicine should be established in all modern hospitals. The type of services in the beginning should be noninvasive character. Safety standard of all traditional and complementary medicine should be set by the government and adopted in the service centers. Dialogue between the conventional and modern medical practitioners should be started. Research parameters in the traditional and complementary medicines should be acceptable to both the conventional and modern professionals. Public funds should be allocated on equitable basis for the modern and old systems of medicine. These must be a self-regulatory body to maintain the standard of practice in traditional and complementary systems.
(By BN Khaniya. Published in The Kathmandu Post on 21 July 2004)
