Traditional healing: Is it effective?
Traditional healing: Is it effective?
As the appeal to get back to nature grows stronger, more and
more people are turning to alternative healing and medicine. Does
this truly heal? The Jakarta Post discusses this issue in
conjunction with National Health Day, which falls today. More
stories on Page 6.
JAKARTA (JP): Traditional healing has long been criticized by
certain people in the community, but last year it gained
credibility with the government's decision to include it in the
national medical system.
Many people are turning to traditional medicine and
alternative healing. They are going back to nature.
Alternative medicine has been around for ages, and long after
the introduction of chemical medication and professionally
trained doctors, it remains popular.
Alternative medicine practitioners examine patients without a
stethoscope, or other modern instrument. Soetijono Darsosentono,
who claims he can cure cancer, is armed with a Koran. He puts the
holy book above the patient's head and prays before giving the
patient medicine: traditional herbs made from the leaves of
benalu (Loranthes sp.), tapak dara (Catharanthus roseus, Vinca
rosea or Lochnera rosea) and sirih (betel).
Handoyo Lukman uses a pendulum to analyze the electrostatic
signals of his patients. Lukman, whose practice is in Purworejo,
Central Java, combines what is called radiesthesia, or the
science of pendulum, and medical science in the therapy.
Lukman believes that the ability to heal is a gift from God.
People acquire the talent either by accident, through training,
or hereditarily.
Acupuncturists make use of needles, but Prof. Hembing
Wijayakusuma, a graduate of the Chinese Medicine College in Hong
Kong, has replaced needles with bee stings. Hembing, chairman of
the Association of Indonesian Traditional Medicine and
Acupuncture, has received various international awards for his
discoveries in alternative medicine, including the bee-sting
therapy.
Retno Widati kneads certain nerves of a patient and rolls
burning incense just above the skin to improve blood circulation.
She helps people with sexual and infertility problems.
Ahmad Afif Solichin, a healer and an artist, draws the
patient's rajah (anatomy) before the healing process. The
drawing, which is full of symbols, is meant to give the healer
and the patient spiritual confidence. With the help of such
drawings, combined with an unexplained supernatural power,
Solichin is said to be able to remove tumors from fully conscious
patients.
There are also healers like Sabihi Mudasir, who practice pijit
refleksi, or reflexology.
"The first time I saw him was four or five years ago. He gave
me a massage for myopia, and it worked," Ahmad, one of his
patients, told The Jakarta Post.
Since then he always comes to see Mudasir whenever he does not
feel well.
Most traditional healers don't have formal medical education.
They learn about healing methods from their ancestors and books,
or by experience. But others, including Hembing, attended medical
school. Part of alternative healing includes the prescribing of
traditional herbs.
Medicinal plants
Indonesia is rich in medicinal plants.
Pharmacologist Sardjono Oerip Santoso from University of
Indonesia said that 940 of the 7,000 cultivated plants in the
country are used as medicines.
In June, Sardjono started testing traditional herbs on animals
in the hope of finding a cure for cancer.
There are plants that have the potential to prevent Human
Immunodeficiency Virus from worsening, but further study is
needed, he said.
Globally, the belief in traditional medicine's potential grows
as modern medicine sometimes proves to be ineffective.
Luc Montagnier, who isolated HIV 12 years ago, has recently
called for any possible means to fight AIDS, including the
testing of traditional drugs. But he said the testing should be
conducted rationally and with intensive long-term laboratory
experiments.
Alternative medicine is growing in popularity, but many modern
doctors refuse to accept its effectiveness.
The case of Gunawan Simon in 1985 is still fresh in the minds
of many people. It was a prominent case at the time and
highlighted the modern medical community's staunch opposition to
alternative healing.
Gunawan was expelled from the Indonesian Medical Association
in 1985 because he gave his patients herbal medicines, which he
formulated himself. Among his patients was Adam Malik, a former
vice president, who died from cancer earlier in the same year.
Indonesian Medical Association chairman Azrul Azwar said that
Gunawan's membership from the organization was revoked because he
refused to have any clinical tests done on his concoctions.
The organization recognizes acupuncture because it has been
scientifically proven. But it does not acknowledge reflexology,
radiesthesia or other alternative healing methods, especially
those related to supernatural powers.
Azwar said that he has conducted his own research on
reflexology. "I found that, unlike acupuncturists, reflexologists
do not have a (universal) system. Every reflexologist has their
own system," Azwar told the Post.
Even though some patients claim to be totally cured by herbs,
or alternative treatments, Azwar is skeptical. The patients may
recover by accident, he said.
"Maybe the patients did not really have cancer and the early
medical diagnosis was wrong," he added.
He recommended that clinical trials be conducted to prove the
effectiveness of herbal medicines and alternative healing
methods.
The call for scientific study may serve as a caution for the
public to take much care. Traditional medical practitioners may
truly heal, but their work needs to be properly evaluated.
(sim/jsk)