Indonesia
is committed to developing non-conventional health care that includes
traditional, alternative and complimentary medicines as about 80 percent of the
country’s population already uses traditional medicines, especially herbal
medicines, a senior health official says.
Director
General of Nutrition and Maternal and Child Health at the Health Ministry,
Slamet Riyadi Yuwono, said on Monday that Indonesia had more than 9,000 species
of plants with potential as medicine but only a few of them were developed as
herbal medicines.
“We’ve seen
a shifting of public interest from modern medical practice to health care which
uses the concept of back to nature,” he said on the sidelines of a meeting with
visiting officials from Thailand’s Public Health Ministry.
The Thai
delegation was led by Suphan Srithamma, director general of the Department for
Development of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine (DTAM) at the Thai
Ministry of Health.
Citing
World Health Organization (WHO) data from 2005, Slamet said about 80 percent of
the world’s population used herbal medicines.
Scientific
studies have shown that 9,600 out of a total 30,000 species of plants in
Indonesia have an efficacy as a medicine; however, only a few of them have been
used as medicines.
“Thus, we
will further promote the development of traditional and herbal medicines by
conducting jamu (herbal medicine) scientification and integrating traditional
and herbal-based medications into existing health care services,” said Slamet.
In 2008,
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declared jamu to be the brand of Indonesian
herbal medicine.
The
Tawangmangu Declaration announced during the 3rd Conference on Traditional
Medicine in ASEAN Countries in 2011 agreed upon the use of evidence-based
herbal medicine.
Twelve
hospitals have so far developed traditional, alternative and complimentary
health care services. They include three hospitals in Jakarta (Dharmais Cancer
Center, Persahabatan, and Mintoharjo Navy Hospital); Dr Soetomo Hospital in
Surabaya; Dr Saiful Anwar Hospital in Malang; Dr Sardjito Hospital in
Yogyakarta; Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar; Dr Pirngadi Hospital in Medan;
Prof.Dr.R.Soeharso Hospital in Solo; Dr Suraji Tirtonegoro Hospital in Klaten;
Dr Wahidin Sudiro Husodo Hospital in Makassar; and Prof.Dr.RD Kandou in Manado.
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