Alternative medicine into the mainstream

Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The growing popularity of alternative medicine can be attributed in part to an underlying distrust in what conventional medicine here has to offer.

It also has something to do with our cultural beliefs in mysticism and the supernatural.

Many people, even those caught up in a thoroughly modern lifestyle in urban Jakarta, have come to believe in the claims of alternative medical practitioners.

Young and old are seeking out alternative medical therapists to cure what ails them -- and their confidence in the programs may be integral to whether they work.

A private company employee, "Dini", chose to visit an acupuncturist to treat her ulcers after a doctor told her she would need a diagnostic endoscopy at a cost of Rp 800,000.

"My mom and I only spent Rp 150,000 for one acupuncture treatment. I don't know if the acupuncture has healed me but I feel better," she said, adding that she had always been skeptical of the advice of doctors.

Her colleague, "Bertha", also went to an acupuncturist to lose weight. She has lost seven kilograms after several meetings, each costing her Rp 250,000.

"The effect is I've really lost my appetite to eat. Besides this acupuncture, I also have to follow a diet suggested by my acupuncturist," she said.

The term alternative medicine is a misnomer in this country, where people have long relied on traditional healing methods even after the advent of western medicine. Now, however, it has become part of the mainstream in modern society.

Newspaper classifieds are crammed with services, from acupuncturists to metaphysical practitioners claiming to be able to transfer diseases from patients to animals or objects. There are many book titles and several TV shows on the topic.

The practitioners do not keep their claims to simple medical disorders, with some boasting they can cure HIV/AIDS or cancer.

Mardan Sadzali runs an ad claiming that he can cure drug addiction, mental illness, epilepsy, diabetes, stroke, coronary heart disease, infertility, hypertension and even Parkinson's.

"Father's efforts will only work if the people believe in him. If it's just a test, it will be useless," his wife, Wahidyah, said, speaking for her husband who cannot be disturbed except for treatments.

At his practice in Bekasi on the outskirts of Jakarta, Mardan only uses prayer and water in the healing process, which his wife said was a God-given gift. After he has prayed over the water, patients are instructed to drink the liquid.

For each type of ailment, the course of treatment is 10 visits, with each treatment costing Rp 300,000.

"Trust me, our intention is only to help people. It is God who heals them," Wahidyah said, adding patients ranged from housewives to business executives and Army officers.

But the popularity of the treatment and the potential to make money from people desperate to find a cure inevitably attracts quacks.

The health ministry's director general of community health, Azrul Azwar, acknowledged there were now many alternative healers making false claims.

But he argued that the ministry could not police those practitioners claiming supernatural powers.

"For treatments based on the supernatural, that is beyond the health ministry's jurisdiction to handle ... we have asked the public not to go to such practitioners but who can stop them?

"Those who are terminally ill and have lost all hope with conventional medicine will turn to such practices."

Azrul said the problem with Indonesian traditional treatment was there was no clear concept of the health aspects -- all illness is considered caused by supernatural mistakes.

"If you're sick it is because you have just disturbed a sacred object. Unlike in other countries such as China and Korea with the yin and yang concept, and India with Ayurveda."

The ministry argues it is hard to clamp down on the charlatans because patients are reluctant to come forward with complaints.

"I can understand victims of such practices will feel ashamed to report cases because they are victims of fraud. We can't do anything about it. If the practices cause deaths, it is the task of law enforcers to deal with it."

Ultimately, the "success" of the treatment may have a lot to do with mind over matter, psychiatrist Danardi Sosrosumihardjo from Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital said.

Many of the people who resort to the treatment have a highly suggestible personality type, he said.

"These people are easily influenced. Medically, it's the placebo effect."

Those people were easily convinced by the presence of an official sounding prescription, the figures of "doctor" and treatments, so they would believe they are better, Danardi said.

"These kind of people are usually those who lack self- confidence and are immature in terms of psychological development," he said, adding the type was shaped by the pattern of childhood upbringing.

Although some firmly believe that alternative therapy works for them, Danardi cautioned others to discontinue treatment if it did not bring the desired results.

"One has to be able to stop once there is no efficacy shown and too much money has been spent. Just be rational," he said.