Asia 5000 Years Of Traditional Medicine

What is our main concern when we travel overseas? Medical help. It is difficult to anticipate what sort of medical help you might need when you travel overseas, so having enough knowledge of the local medical support you can get may ease your mind. What is really interesting about Asia is that you can get almost any sort of treatment for any kind of sickness. Sweeping statement indeed but that is how it is with Asia, it is surprisingly ready for the cure.

Just ask any Singaporean or Asian. For a simple problem as the common cold,  you can choose to take Panadol (Paracetamol) and massage Tiger Balm Oil (Singapore) on your chest to help you breathe better. I have also tried Eucalyptus Medicated Oil, Minyak Kayu Putih (Indonesia), Air Zam Zam or Holy Zam Zam Water (from Mecca), Air Cap Kaki Tiga, Air Halia (Ginger drink), Aromatherapy etc. When I had skin problem as a kid, I had grated coconut literally smeared all over my body. Then our Chinese neighbours offered to treat it with traditional Chinese medicine. It had such a pungent smell I could even recall it if I ever smell it again.  I was eventually healed. What traditional herbal treatment did for me could never have been plausible with  conventional western medicine.

Medical treatment in Asia is so vast and it cuts across cultures and religions, it is almost useless to try and figure out how someone who has gout can be treated with acupuncture. Or drinking Brands Essence of Chicken is better than consuming vitamin supplements. Or eating anchovies is the same as drinking a glass of milk everyday.

If all of  these works for Asians, why is there need for conventional western medicine? In all my encounters with both types of medical treatment, traditional Asian physicians are not explicit with their findings and prescriptions; they seem to have the ‘power of the know’. Whereas conventional western medical practitioners seem to have documents to support their theories and diagnosis. You can always have a second opinion to the kind of treatment you have been given by a conventional western doctor; you cannot expect to do the same with traditional Asian physicians. Not only is the treatment entirely different, so will be the diagnosis. Yet they are trusted and their opinions, relevant.

So relevant is the opinion and treatment by traditional means, the first Asia Pacific Traditional and Complementary Medicine conference was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in November 2008. In Singapore, the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) now comes under the charge of the Ministry of Health. In Malaysia, Putrajaya Hospital was chosen as one of the locations for the first phase of the pioneer project to integrate complementary medicine into the existing public health care system. It even includes herbal treatment for cancer patients and traditional Malay massage. Given these and the growing interest in traditional herbal treatment, indeed we are assured of  adequate, if not overwhelming  medical help, when travelling overseas, Asia inclusive.