Funding Urged For Research Center

Republic Act 8423 creating the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Atlernative Health Care, known as the Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act (TAMA), was passed by Congress during the last months of the Ramos administration aimed at setting up a research center to study the effectiveness of medicine plants and herbs in the country.

The health department, however said no fund was available for the purpose, and here are the poor relying on faith and herbal healing, according to Dr. Jose Tamayo, president and chief executive of the University of Perpetual Help System (UPHS).

Reacting to an article titled: "Alternative Medicine: Opening the Floodgates," he asked. "Is it opening the floodgates to more affordable cure or opening the floodgates to more deaths?"

He said if the government has to explore the possibilities of utilizing indigenous plants for alternative, complementary or integrative healing, it should follow the example of countries in other parts of the world, which have already come up with viable drugs as alternatives to branded ones.

Acknowledged to be cheaper but effective, Tamayo said, it is time the health department should do something to provide cheaper medicines culled from local plants, considering that the high cost of medication cannot be afforded by the masses anymore.

Citing the UPHS College of Medicine which has already included integrative health care into the medical discipline, Tamayo said students pass on their knowledge to barangay health workers regarding the herbs they have proven to be effective, in which case, he said the poor can still get cured of minor ailments.