Islamic medicine included in Traditional and Complementary Medicine Bill 2012

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has agreed to include Islamic medicine practices in the Traditional and Complementary Medicine (TCM) Bill 2012 after this was agreed upon by the Malaysia Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and all the states' Islamic religious departments.

Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the amendment notice to include Islamic medicine in the Bill would be issued during the debate session in the Dewan Rakyat.

"Prior to this, we did not include Islamic medicine in the Bill as we did not have Jakim's approval, but now Jakim and all the states' religious departments have agreed.

"After this, Islamic medicine practitioners and bomohs will have to be registered through a council to be established," he told Bernama at at the Parliament lobby.

Earlier, Liow had tabled the Traditional and Complementary Medicine Bill for the second reading in the Dewan Rakyat.

Barisan Nasional and opposition lawmakers have asked the ministry to consider including Islamic medicine in the Bill as modern medicine and Islamic medicine were equally important, besides the increasing popularity of Islamic or traditional medicine among patients.

Federation of Islamic Medicine Practitioners' Associations (GAPPIMA) chairman Mohd Fauzi Mustaffa had also expressed concern over the future of Islamic medicine and increasing cases of using black magic (by bomohs) to treat patients.

Under the TCM Bill, Liow said his ministry, with the cooperation of Jakim, would be monitoring the registration process for Islamic and Malay, Chinese and Indian TCM practitioners through a council that would be set up.

He said such practitioners who failed to register themselves could face a jail term of up to two years and a fine of RM30,000 to RM50,000.

When tabling the Bill, the Health Minister said nearly 15,000 TCM practitioners would not escape stern action if found to have cheated patients or have contravened the law.

He said with the rapid growth of TCM in Malaysia and internationally, the World Health Organisation had drawn up strategies that could be used in developing this sector in their respective countries.

The Health Ministry, he added, had also launched a national policy on TCM, which stated that TCM would be practised together with modern medicine and to be integrated in the national healthcare system to improve the health and well-being of the people.

Liow also said that so far, 10 government hospitals in the country were offering TCM alongside modern medicine.

They are Kepala Batas Hospital (Penang), Sultan Ismail Hospital (Johor Baharu), Putrajaya Hospital, Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital (Kuala Terengganu), Duchess of Kent Hospital (Sandakan, Sabah), Sarawak General Hospital (Kuching), Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital (Alor Setar), Port Dickson Hospital, Sultanah Hajah Kalsom Hospital (Cameron Highlands) and Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital (Kota Baharu). - Bernama