Two groups approach medicine in different way
I would like to add my views on the proposed amendment to include Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners in the Legislative Council's medical functional constituency.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners, as the name suggests, practise traditional medicine. Many cultures and societies have their own traditional healers. Chinese have TCM practitioners, Malays have bomohs and African tribal societies have their various traditional healers.
Traditional methods of healing continue to exert a considerable influence and play an important role in modern society in different cultures. However, traditional healers practise medicine that has not been validated by modern scientific methods.
This is the basic difference between a traditional healer and a doctor trained in modern medicine. The two groups approach and practise medicine in an entirely different way. Apart from the fact that we are both health-care providers, we are in fact different types of health professionals altogether.
Health-care providers consist of many different professionals, the modern doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, chiropractors, TCM practitioners and others.
Each of these professional groups has a different and distinct role in health-care delivery.
We should co-operate, enhance communications, promote the flow of scientific exchanges and work as a team to provide better health care for the public. We are, however, not the same.
As I understand, the medical functional constituency represents doctors and dental surgeons trained under modern scientific methods. We share in common a standard training through medical schools based on scientific principles and belong to medical professional bodies which adhere to international standards of modern medicine. The training of traditional medicine practitioners does not meet such criteria.
TCM practitioners and doctors of modern medicine are distinctly different groups of health-care professionals. TCM practitioners have more in common with other practitioners of alternative medicine than with doctors of modern medicine.
The sensible way is for TCM practitioners to be represented as a separate professional body in Legco or to be included with other practitioners of alternative medicine.
Dr Y. K. SIU Sai Kung
