TRADITIONAL COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE BILL TO BE TABLED EARLY NEXT YEAR

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian health ministry is finalising
the Traditional Complementary Medicine (TCM) Bill which is expected to be tabled
in Parliament early next year.

The minister, Liow Tiong Lai, said it was still gathering inputs and
views from various sides to complete the proposal by next year.

"We are supposed to complete (the bill) this year but we are still getting
more views and opinions from the TCM Council, organisations and practitioners,
in term of penalties and registration," he said.

Liow said this in a press conference after officiating the inaugural Chinese
Medicine and Chiropractic Seminar and Workshop 2010 and the International
Medical University (IMU) Healthcare Centres here Saturday.

Nevertheless, he noted there were some practitioners who were worried that
the government would control the usage of traditional medicine if regulation was
implemented.

Liow said the TCM Council comprised practitioners of traditional medicine,
adding that it had registered about 10,000 practioners nationwide.

He said Malaysia worked with China with regard to traditional medicine to
provide training, treatment, research and development.

He said six private colleges and universities offered traditional and
complementary medicine programmes in the country.

They were College of Complementary Medicine in Melaka, INTI International
University College (Nilai, Negeri Sembilan), Cyberjaya University College of
Medical Sciences (Cyberjaya), Management and Science University (Shah Alam,
Selangor), International Medical University (Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur) and
University Tunku Abdul Rahman (Kampar, Perak).

Earlier in his speech, Liow said there would be two more TCM units to be
completed before the end of the year at Hospital Port Dickson and Hospital
Sultanah Bahiyah, Alor Setar.

"Next year, we will continue to expand the integrated hospital concept to
more hospitals, including Hospital Sultanah Hajjah Kalsom, Cameron Highlands and
Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II, Kota Baharu," he said.

He said there were six integrated hospitals in the country, namely at Kepala
Batas, Putrajaya, Pandan, Kuala Terengganu, Sandakan and Kuching.

The seminar focuses on the holistic wellness of its patients and delivers an
integrated concept of healthcare which combines the availability of western
medicine and traditional and complementary medicine under one roof.

The two-day seminar saw speakers from Malaysia, China and Australia
converging to exchange the latest ideas, information and knowledge in TCM.

-- BERNAMA