Traditional healers need licenses

Traditional healers need licenses

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Traditional healers must secure licenses from health agencies
at the regency or municipal level if they want to practice, a
health official said on Thursday.

Azrul Azwar, Director General for Public Health at the
Ministry of Health, said health agencies would issue licenses
only if traditional healers submitted a request, along with a
recommendation from their respective association.

At least 30 associations for different types of traditional
healers would be established within a month and these
associations would also supervise their members' practices, he
said.

"Existing associations should list themselves with the
ministry," said Azwar. The ministry is currently preparing a
ministerial decree on the associations.

It was not clear if those traditional healers had to meet
certain "standard" requirements in order to get licenses and what
kind of punishment would be meted out on those who practice
without a license.

Azwar said the legislation was needed as the number of
traditional healers was growing and there was no means of
supervising them.

The associations would be urged to establish standards of
service and a code of ethics, he said.

In the eyes of the ministry, traditional healers are people
acknowledged by the public as capable of treating the sick or
preventing illnesses using techniques passed down through
generations or studied outside formal medical training.

There are four major categories, healers who use skills,
traditional herbs, religious teachings, and spiritual healers.

These include masseurs, traditional circumcisers,
acupuncturists, spa therapists, homeopaths, or shamans. The
current number of traditional healers is still unknown but by
1997, there were already 280,000 traditional healers across the
country.

"The number should be higher now as there is an increasing
trend toward alternative healing, especially when modern medicine
doesn't work," said Azrul.

A survey in 2001 showed that 9.8 percent of Indonesians use
traditional methods to treat illnesses, more than double the 1998
figure of 4.5 percent.

The ministry is also concerned with the number of foreigners
who are working illegally as traditional healers in the country.
About 20 foreign practitioners are registered at the ministry,
but hundreds are working in hotels, spas and other places.

"Foreign healers cannot practice in Indonesia," said Azrul.

Ministerial Decree No. 1076/2003 on traditional healing
practices stipulates that foreigners can only work as consultants
in a corporate body that already has at least two certified
Indonesian healers.

Together with the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration and
the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, the health ministry
will tighten procedures to obtain permits.

"The Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration will only issue a
permit for traditional healers after receiving a written
recommendation from us," said Azrul.

"We will ask the associations to check the credibility of
foreigners who want to work as traditional healers here."