Plan for medicine centre

 THE University of Papua New Guinea plans to set up a centre for traditional medicine to investigate, document and promote safe and effective traditional ways of curing illnesses.

Dr Prem Rai said the Government had shown its commitment to develop traditional medicine by approving a national policy on it in March 2007. 

A formal programme on traditional medicine was included in the country’s national health plan for 2001 to 2010.

“With the Department of Health, the university has made a series of activities on documentation of local practices of traditional medicine, and establishment of a traditional medicine database,” he said.

Practitioners’ associations were formed at provincial and districts levels with training provided for traditional practitioners.

“Today there is not enough resource material available to prepare health professionals to interact with traditional medicines to help the people they seek to serve,” Rai said.

He said the main idea of the centre was to establish, develop and manage a resource facility for documenting, study and research in PNG traditional herbal medicines, with particular reference to their roles in primary health care in the country. 

He said the World Health Organisation had a clear policy on traditional medicine and had established a programme for it with its headquarters in the USA.

He said 30 centres were created in countries with medical officers for traditional medicine in each of the regional offices.

“PNG has responded to WHO by including the traditional medicine programme in its national health plan to provide improved access to safe and effective traditional medicine and practices to the majority of the population,” he said.

“However PNG needs a centre to fulfill the policy of WHO.”