Globally, health care is one of the fastest moving and continuously growing industries that leading medical and pharmaceutical companies are trying to dominate. The incessant search of mankind for panacea and the elixir of life is just one of the things that drive this industry to produce the best and most innovative health-care products, equipment and systems.
But in the past decade, the health-care industry came to terms with traditional and alternative medicine. Though not everybody believes in the health benefits of these ancient medical practices, the latter has already gained the recognition of some of the most distinguished health-care providers and manufacturers.
Thus, it gave birth to new healthcare terms such as integrative medicine, functional medicine and contemporary medicine. The marriage of scientific-based studies applied on traditional medicine practices makes this health-care option very appealing to the people due to its holistic approach.
Recognizing the traditional and alternative health care in the country, the government proclaimed the month of November as the Traditional and Alternative Health Care Month.
In line with this, the Philippines Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) celebrates today the 10th TAHC Congress, which aims to harness the contribution of T&CM to health, wellness and people-centered health care.
Together with the local government of Davao City, the TAHC Congress celebration at the Apo View Hotel, the city will be home to at least 300 T&CM practitioners who will participate in the congress.
“This yearly event of the PITAHC is to gather all T&CM practitioners in the country to show that we are here and PITAHC is here to stay and we should band together because, as they say, ‘Together we stand, divided we fall,’” PITAHC Director General Dr. Annabelle Pabiona de Guzman said.
She also added that it is the right time for all T&CM practitioners to band together to effect a change that will bring the industry to another level, in which progress and development in the national and even international level will be achieved.
“This is the time to harness the energies of all the practitioners of T&CM, which we will all show to the world that we are a number that can be contended with. We have something to show, like the Pista ng Paggagamutang Pilipino. This is the first time that we will be gathering all the traditional indigenous healers to make it known to everyone that it is all part of traditional medicine,” she stressed.
The PITAHC, since 2012, when its mandate was changed and was reclassified as a research institute, has been fulfilling three major functions, which are for the advancement of traditional and alternative medicine in the country.
According to Pabiona-de Guzman, the PITAHC functions as a research institutet that led them to the field of herbal medicine; the agency also serves as an avenue for standards and accreditation, wherein they bring all TAHC modalities and practitioners like hilot, acupuncture, chiropractic medicine, naturopathic and homeopathic medicines, together to strengthen the health-care system. The PITAHC is also expected to come up with social advocacy campaigns to raise awareness and better understanding of the entire facet that involves traditional and alternative medicine.
Compared to other Asian nations, which have T&CM, the Philippines is way behind when it comes to facilities and trainings but the director general is hopeful for the fast development as the national government is fully supporting its cause.
“When we had the Asean Congress last year wherein we invited the other Asean countries and they shared about their best TAHC practices, I noticed we’re so behind already because they have universities with teaching and training facilities for traditional and alternative medicine, and T&CM is also integrated to their universal health-care system. And this is what we are trying to address that is why we are supporting House Bill 7950.”
HB 7950 seeks to empower the PITAHC by providing it with regulatory powers over traditional and complementary health care. The bill also proposes to increase the agency’s human resources, and to upgrade equipment, testing laboratories and field offices.
The bill also wishes to rename the institute from PITAHC to the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Complementary Health Care, or PITCHC. If the bill are passed into law, it will entail the transfer of regulatory powers of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on traditional and complementary medicines to the PITCHC. “If all the proposals stipulated in the bill is approved, the PITAHC can easily and effectively monitor all its accredited members and the products they are producing,” she stressed.
And as another year presses on, the director general is still hopeful for the things she envisions for the PITAHC since the first day she assumed the top post in this office. “All the campaigns we are doing right now are ultimately geared toward the integration of the T&CM to the universal health-care system of the country. This will give more Filipinos the access to other health options other than the Western medicine. Second, I know that we are still far from achieving this, but change can still happen, and who knows in the very near future, the Philippines will also have its own universities for T&CM?”
The PITAHC, continuously striving to serve and deliver its purpose, and the 10th TAHC Congress, is a venue to muster all the strengths of the industry toward the realization of a goal that will benefit all Filipinos.
To know more about the 10th TAHC Congress, log on to www.pitahc.gov.ph.