More and more patients are turning toward alternative medicine because modern medicine is expensive and has failed to treat diseases such as cancer, said Abdullah Al-Badah, executive director of the national society for complementary and alternative medicine.

He said 67 percent of alternative medicine users are women.

According to him the forms of alternative medicine practiced in the Kingdom include Qur'an recitation, honey applications, Nigella sativa oil and garlic.

He said there are more forms of alternative practices including acupuncture, oil treatment and massage.

He said it was important for practitioners of alternative medicine to be licensed. Any unqualified exercises can result in complications, disability, poisoning and death, he said. Al-Badah was speaking at Hamad Al-Jasser's weekly forum in Riyadh.

The medical methods used by practitioners to diagnose and treat people still have to be scientifically proven to be safe.

Al-Badah explained to the audience that alternative medicine practices were in vogue in ancient China, Egypt, India and Greece.

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67% of alternative medicine users are women