Herbal Medicine

Long before the introduction of modern medicines and Western curative methods, herbal medicines had been widely used in the Philippines.

The curative effects of the there herbs were tested by traditional healers on their patients on try-and-error basis. The knowledge and skills on the curative application of any given herbal medicine has been handed down from generation to generation.

Apart from prescribing herbal medicines, the traditional healers we're known to give psychological comfort and moral support to their patients. In the old days, they were well respected and enjoyed high social status.

Through generations of selective process, the herbs that we're known to be effective were kept alive. The ineffective ones were soon forgotten.

In the days when drugs from the West just started to be used in the Philippines, they were not only too expensive but also too scarce. The rural folks and the poor continued to rely on herbal medicines available in abundance locally.

Western-style medical care has reached a very limited number of people, mostly in urban areas.

As modern drugs were increasingly available at much cheaper prices, the popularity of herbal medicines waned considerably and faces extinction.

Traditional healers and the use of herbal medicines have begun to vanish along with the knowledge about their curative applications. Herbal Medicines have become legacy of the past and the number of users is fast dwindling.

Hospitals that have sprouted up in the provinces and later in the districts have in no small part contributed to the dying art of traditional healing. Doctors trained in Western medicine have arrived to introduce new concepts almost at every corner of the country.

Of course, modern medicine is a wonder compared to the use of herbs. After all, there is still no herbal medicine comparable to antibiotics, vaccines, anti-inflammation, and symptomatic drugs.

Despite the Public Health Ministry's vigorous campaigns to make available medical services in rural areas, the services are still far from adequate today. It is doubtful if the modern medical services will ever trained manpower.

The policy of expanding medical services has been doggedly followed for several years this the point that authorities started questioning the necessity of some district hospitals considered too close to larger provincial facilities.

Patients living near town centres would naturally rather be treated at a provincial hospitals - with more sophisticated equipment and supposedly more- qualified doctors than at hospitals in their own districts.

Despite the expansion policy, the Public Health Ministry acknowledge that nearly 600 hospitals are providing care for not more than 30 % of entire population. The poorest lot who live far from district towns and are in need of health care the most are unable to come to the hospitals.

Besides, hospitals are normally too crowded to provide good services because everyone is taught to see a doctor no matter how insignificant the illness. The ministry estimated that about 90% of patients do not need to come to hospitals at all.

Villagers who are unable to obtain services from government hospitals resort to drugs without prescriptions or proper advice. The health problems have been compounded as a result of the misguided consumption of modern drugs. Many suffered and died from peptic ulcer perforation ( punctured stomach ) because of unprescribed consumption of analgesics.

The fulfill the World Health Organizations motto."Health For All By The Year 2000," the Public Health Ministry has given more attention to primary health care campaigns. Health communicators and health volunteers were recruited from villages to teach basic health care.

One of the policies declared by the Public Health Ministry is the revitalisation of the use of herbal medicines through scientifically proven methods. The Ministry has embarked on a project to promote single herbal plants for their curative and preventive effects.

"This approach is chosen because the cost of modern drugs could progressively become too high for the rural population to bear within the forseeable future," the Ministry said in the agreement with the donors.

According to Ministry statistics, Philippines now import about US$350 million worth of drugs.

Another reason cited my the Ministry for the herbs revitalisation programme is that there is a growing concern that the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, the main supplier of standard drugs to the primary health care project, will not be able to produce required level of household drugs to meet demand in the wake of the large-scale health services coverage.

By encouraging villagers to grow and use herbs for treatment, the Ministry would also promote the self-help concept that would be in line with the primary health care programme.

Apart from collecting and classifying information on medicinal plants and traditional medicines, the Ministry will disseminate information on cultivation techniques and undertake scientific researches on herbs. The Ministry hopes to prove and prepare formula mixtures of traditional medicines for distribution through district hospitals and health centres in 25 selected provinces.

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