Alternative system of medicine is the future of health care, say experts

Experts at an international conference on alternative medicine said on Wednesday academic and industry linkage should be encouraged to develop evidence-based alternative medicine, scientific gatherings should be held more frequently, and institutional linkages regarding student and faculty exchange programmes should also be established between different countries.

They further called for launching combined research projects to have a strong scientific validation of alternate medicine, inviting more international speakers to the conference and organising more technical courses in the area of alternative medicine.

They said Mattab Hamdard Aram Bagh should be declared a national heritage, and added that the National Coucil for Tibb should define the extent of clinical practices for Tabbibs/Hakims.

They made these recommendations while speaking at the concluding session of a three-day 5th Hamdard International Conference on “Alternative Medicine, Responsibilities and Challenges” at Bait al Hikmah Auditorium (Library) at Hamdard University, Madinat al Hikmah, Karachi.

Other recommendations of the conference included behavioural changes in the community through mutual cooperation, counselling of patients by Hakims, doctors, homeopaths and community leaders for better and early healing through alternative medicine, need for an integrated approach for education, research and practice in the alternative system of medicine. It was further recommended that pre-clinical trials and studies should be conducted before proceeding towards human clinical research.

Experts believed that the alternative system of medicine is the medicine of future; however, compliance with standardisation of drugs and therapy should be ensured.

Speaking at the concluding session, Dr Farhana Memon, director, Sindh Healthcare Commission, said collective efforts were needed to resolve healthcare issues and experts of Tibb along with modern medical practitioners should work together to resolve much pressing concerns and issues healthcare faced today.

She congratulated Hamdard Pakistan and management for holding the conference successfully. She also highlighted the importance of these conferences for the promotion of Eastern Medicine. She especially lauded the efforts of Hamdard to create awareness about the effectiveness of Eastern medicines.

Farhana Memon urged the National Council for Tibb to initiate dialogue with all stakeholders and bring forth recommendations to resolve healthcare issues in the country.

She said breastfeeding was a healthy practice which was unfortunately given up by most population of urban areas even though it had been a practice followed by our elders for centuries.

“We have to adopt these old practices and women understand the importance of breastfeeding. Besides that, ancient treatment methods of remedies of Eastern medicines are also very effective,” she added, and called on others to spread the work of Hakim Said, his accomplishments in the fields of Tibb, his research and discoveries so that more and more people could gain benefit from his work.

Prof Dr Ejaz Moihuddin, dean, Faculty of Eastern Medicine, Hamdard University, and Hakim Abdul Bari, Dy. Director Production, Hamdard Laboratories, presented their papers.