Jahshan calls for licensing of complementary medicine

The expert in facing violence and ethics of medical professions, Dr. Hani Jahshan, revealed that the public health law and the Medical Syndicate Law prohibit anyone from treating patients unless they have a university degree in medicine. He pointed out that some people resorted to treating patients in non-scientific ways throughout history and in different regions of the world. "Unfortunately, these ideas range from going to those who call for magic to heal human relations between couples, to treat epilepsy or to cure the disease," he said.

Jahshan indicated in an exclusive interview with Al Maghrib Today that the practical solution to addressing this problem to mitigate the consequences of these harmful practices is to license and control specific types of complementary medicine or alternative medicine and to prevent any other practices such as ironing, rheumatism, cupping and fractures, adding that all these acts are acts of juggling and misleading.

He explained that there is no integrated medical system that gives the ideal answer to all human health needs. "Traditional and non-traditional treatments include a wide range of treatment philosophies," he said. He added that the treatment is called "complementary" when it used following the traditional medical treatment, and called "alternative"  when it used as an alternative to traditional medical treatment.

He pointed out that it is possible to have some positive aspects of so-called complementary medicine or alternative medicine, stressing that professionals should be fully aware of the types, value and effectiveness of all types of scientific treatment in addition to the types of treatment which called alternative or complementary.

Jahshan said that the alternative treatment can be used to prevent the disease, or in some simple cases who do not need a traditional treatment, and should be done by the doctor supervising the patient's case, noting that scientific studies have proven the effectiveness of some methods of complementary treatment or alternative treatment of some chronic pathologies such as back pain, allergies, tension, and headaches.

He explained that some countries have licensed alternative medicine or complementary medicine to prevent these practitioners from surgical operations or any interventions into the human body, such as injections or intravenous solutions, obstetrics, blood extraction, cancer treatment, treatment of infectious diseases. "The license is supervised by the state health authority," he said, adding that this is a practical step to combat the consequences of so-called popular medicine.

The consequences of alternative treatment, according to Jahshan, are multiple, including blurred medical diagnosis of the patient and the aggravation of his illness because of the lack of tests and radiation and provide appropriate treatment, especially in cases requiring urgent follow-up such as chronic headache, rheumatic pain, stiffness or swelling of joints, high blood pressure, paralysis, insomnia.