Minister opens traditional medicine center
Minister opens traditional medicine center
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Health Sujudi yesterday inaugurated
a unit for traditional medicine at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General
Hospital in Jakarta, now an increasingly popular alternative to
modern medicine.
The Center for Development and Application of Traditional
Medicine is the third such facility in Indonesia that
incorporates both modern and traditional medicine under one roof
now that the government gives formal recognition to the important
role of traditional medicine in society.
The first two facilities were opened this year, one in
Surabaya and one in Yogyakarta. The government plans to open 12
such centers before the end of the century.
Previously, the activities of traditional healers and their
medicines escaped the government's supervision. The government's
policy changed after Sujudi returned from a visit to China, where
modern and traditional medicine coexist side by side, allowing
patients a choice.
Under the new policy, the Ministry of Health has begun
controlling the flow of traditional medicines, many of which have
been on sale in Indonesia without government supervision. Now the
government has imposed restrictions, such as prescribing minimum
standards to protect consumers.
At the inauguration yesterday Sujudi emphasized the need for
those involved in traditional medicine to provide qualified and
safe services to the public.
"Traditional drug manufacturers should be able to provide
scientific support for their products and ensure that they are
safe for consumption," he said, stressing that this is the only
way that traditional medicines will gain wide acceptance.
"Most modern doctors are reluctant to administer traditional
medicines to their patients because they haven't been analyzed
scientifically," he said.
Local manufacturers of traditional medicines must also be able
to compete with foreign products that have found their way into
Indonesia, he said.
The minister installed the members of the center's management
board led by Hadisantoso.
Sujudi also inaugurated the Laboratory for Heart Disease at
RSCM and signed the plaque to mark the construction of a new
building which will house the hospital's main medical unit.
The University of Indonesia's School of Medicine, RSCM and
Eijkman Foundation also signed a cooperation agreement to expand
the Medicine Science and Technology Center at the corner at the
intersection of Jl. Salemba and Jl. Diponegoro.
Sujudi accepted, on behalf of the hospital, sophisticated
equipment for conducting ear, nose and throat (THT) surgery from
Hearing International of Japan. (31)