Doctors caution public against alternative meds

CEBU, Philippines - Despite the growing concern among medical practitioners on the popularity of alternative medicine, an international group of family doctors on the other hand said it has not affected the professional medical industry.

The group, however, sends out a warning to the public to be cautious in taking unproven alternative or herbal medicines to treat their diseases as some may endanger their health.

“It’s something that we have to live with. But it is also important that family physicians [all over the world] will be able to educate their patients in the usage of alternative medicine,” said Micheal Kidd, president elect of the World Organization of Family Doctors (Wonca).

Hugely, most alternative medicine practices are not effective, as it is not scientifically proven, and it costs a lot to patients. Thus, this practice should not be encouraged, side effects might be serious in the long term, said Kidd referring to the community-based “quack-doctor” practice in alternative medicine.

On the other hand, while there is also some alternative medicine products that seemed to have beneficial effects to one’s health, some doctors are also slowly integrating alternative medicine or herbal-based practices to conventional medical practices, said American family physician Barbarra Starfield.

In the Philippines, there is a need for the medical practitioners to educate the public on the proper health care, and that herbal medicines are not the solution or treatment of a disease as claimed by some manufacturers, “some maybe are just supplementary foods, but not to treat a sickness of disease, unless scientifically proven,” said Philippine Association of Family-Medicine Practitioners (PAFP) president Soraya Abubakar.

According to Abubakar the popularity of alternative medicine in the Philippines, both the traditional community healers, and the herbal medicine supplements have become stronger because of the inaccessibility of proper health care especially to majority and the expensive cost of health care in the country.

While the people still have the freedom to choose, doctors warned that availing of alternative medicine could result to long term side effects to their health, especially those products that did not undergo extensive scientific studies.

Wonca chairman Ian Couper said that people should be very careful in taking alternative medicines, and if they should they have to choose the ones that provide reliable evidence of cure, or as alternative medicine for disease prevention.

Over 2,000 Family Doctors all around the world convened in Cebu recently at the Cebu Waterfront Hotel and Casino for the four-day 18th Wonca Asia Pacific Regional Conference.

Important discussions tackled include how to provide easy access to healthcare especially in the rural areas.

In the Philippines, Wonca said that the government should make public-health as one of the priorities for budget, as more and more people do not have access to proper healthcare.

There are only a total of 6,900 practicing Family Physicians in the Philippines, servicing the over 90 million population. This alarming figure should send as a warning to the Philippine government, Wonca officers said.