MANILA, Philippines --- The Philippine College for the Advancement of Medicine (PCAM), which Dr. Robin Buhain Navarro represents as its president, acknowledges the need for greater acceptance of "natural medicine" among Filipinos as a viable compliment to traditional or conventional medicine.

"It's actually natural medicine, not alternative medicine," stressed Dr. Erwin Torres, spokesperson of the 500-member PCAM.

"When we say alternative (medicine), it's an entirely different thing. It could cover pagtatawas or what we call psychic healing. But it's complimentary. This involves nutrition and supplementation. We also promote healthy living, healthy lifestyle," he said.

Torres also acknowledged that their practice oftentimes becomes the last choice for patients, whereas he thinks that the treatment offered by natural medicine could help manage illnesses at the onset.

"What happens is that we become the last choice. The patient only comes to us when conventional medicine has exhausted all procedures. It should be open from start when the patient is diagnosed that he or she has an option with natural medicine.

"The management could be conventional or natural, but it should be the patient who decides which treatment he or she wants."

Still, he said that PCAM's work is focused on harmonizing natural and conventional medicine, and not the contrary.

"What I always say is let's not pit them against each other. PCAM has been trying to harmonize the two. Even if we practice natural medicine, we are not against operations or those medical procedures. What we do is just disseminate information that will serve as guide in the patients' choice of modalities."

In fact, Torres said that PCAM is currently conducting several researches of treatments in combination with conventional medicine. These include research on hyperbaric oxygen therapy and research on hydrotherapy (a natural medicine staple) to replace enema before colonoscopy.

Nutrition Is The Key

Excerpt from:

It’s Natural, Not Alternative Medicine