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| ISSUE 77 : 01-15 August 06 |
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Traditional Thai Medicine Doctors and a Fight of Dignity Dr.Banchob Junhasavasdikul "You have to arrive
here before our opening ceremony for Balavi - Traditional Thai Medicine
Clinic on March 6th because I have surprises for you." Dr. Lalita
reminded me before I led a detoxification tour especially arranged
for The Provincial Public Health officers to Phuket.
I didn't know the detail
of how this opening ceremony was going to be. The only thing I knew
was that Dr. Lalita was secretly preparing everything which she
proudly presented that it would turn our Natural Health Center into
a Thai medicine clinic within a blink of the night.
Dr. Lalita's inspiration
in supporting Thai medicine clinic arose after she discovered an
unexpected truth from observing a "Thai medicine" operation at a
private hospital. What she found was a senior Thai medicine doctor
sitting all alone waiting for patients, while others are in a Thai
massage room.
"Are there many
patients coming to see you?" asked Dr. Lalita.
"Yes, but there're
very few of them. I have to sit here to check if those coming for
massages do not have symptoms that aren't allowed to receive massage
treatment," answered the senior doctor.
"For those coming
for massages, are they interested in receiving Thai medicine treatment?"
asked Dr. Lalita.
"No…they aren't.
They only want to be massaged. The fact is that this hospital offers
a Thai medicine section, so, things have to be arranged professionally.
Everybody coming to this section has to have patient identification
card and receive my approval before they can have massage treatment,"
said the doctor.
"It means that
you still haven't had a chance to really practice your Thai medicine
treatment, doesn't it?" asked Dr. Lalita surprisingly.
"Something like
that," replied him.
"Do doctors in
the hospital transfer patients to you?" curiously asked Dr. Lalita.
"No…Not at all.
How can modern doctors know an importance of traditional Thai medicine?
Nurses and public relation officers are even better in that they
still suggest patients to come see me," explained the doctor.
"In that case
do you have chances in prescribing Thai medicine?" asked her.
"I brought Thai
medicine here at first but they are rarely used so I stopped," answered
him.
What he said was true
for the cupboard in his room was full of nothing but herbal products
such as soaps, shampoos, tea, turmeric in capsules and other OTOP
products which were popular herbal products we could see in other
typical shops. The hospital might think that these products could
at least be sold unlike Thai herbal medicine.
"This is a sad
story. The doctor I told you was like a boxer who was given no chance
of fighting back. It seems to us that Thai medicine treatment is
being promoted but in reality what we are promoted is only a fraction
of the whole Thai medicine wisdom," said Dr. Lalita to me.
Therefore, Dr. Lalita
and I brought this issue to discuss with Police Major Chalerm Pongsanit,
a Thai medicine doctor with more than 30 years of experiences and
a president of several Thai medicine committees.
"Promoting massage
treatment is a good thing to do but we need to bear in mind that
massage therapy is not as important as other kinds of Thai medicine
treatment. Thai medicine doctors must have medical licenses in these
three fields: Traditional Thai Treatment, Traditional Thai Pharmacy
and Traditional Thai Maternal Treatment. Thai medicine doctors are
obliged to have licenses for all of these fields before they can
treat patients. These fields are also considered to be cores of
Thai medicine treatment. Massage, a simple way of treatment having
been conducted since in the olds days, is only a part of the whole
treatment," explained doctor Chalerm.
"In that case
if we want to promote Thai medicine, we should open Thai medicine
clinic to promote every aspect of Thai medicine treatment. Is that
right?" asked Dr.Lalita.
"Absolutely!"
said the doctor.
At the moment we started
to see a glimpse of light.
"Do you diagnose
by considering patient's "Thad Chao Ruan" (individual principle
element which dominates body function of each person including earth,
water, air and fire elements)?" asked Dr. Lalita to Doctor Chalerm
"Thad Chao Ruan
is only one thing to be considered for there are other things to
be considered of when people get sick. For example, we have to check
if the current symptoms are caused from which element (to see if
they are too much or too less of them). If one element is much less
then the others, our body won't function properly. Moreover, food
tastes are also being used as a part of Thai medicine treatment,"
said the doctor.
"How about type
of medicine being used?" asked Dr. Lalita "Do you prefer using single
herbal medicine, boiled herbal medicine or different formulas of
herbal medicine?"
"Using single
herb to cure an illness is not a traditional way of Thai medicine.
Since in the old days, our medicine has been made by basing on different
herbal formulas," replied the doctor.
"Well, this is
totally different from the way we use Thai medicine nowadays. We
tend to take only one type of herb to cure a specific type of illness.
For example, we use "Fah Thalai Jone" when we have a cold and use
ginger when feeling bloated. This way of taking medicine has derived
from modern medication treatment. Researchers attempt to study each
herbal medicine separately and try to extract useful substances
out of them. Using herbal medicine this way is totally different
from what Thai medicine has been doing," added Dr. Lalita.
Nodding Doctor Chalerm,
and said, "Herbal formula is crucially important. A single herb
contains a specific medical reaction but when it is mixed with other
herbs in a formula, that same herb may contain a different kind
of medical reaction. Different schools and families of Thai medicine
invent their own formulas. Suppose a Thai medicine manuscript said
this formula can cure a particular illness and when Thai medical
doctors mix all these herbs exactly like mentioning in the manuscript,
the results will not always be the same for every patient. Each
formula is derived from several years of experiences and experiments."
"Is this the
same as when Khun Neung said that his family has 200 Thai medical
formulas which are already mixed and easy to take to suit the lifestyle
of today's Thai people?" Khun Nueng is Mr. Komson Dinnakorn Na Ayudhaya,
a descendant of Mr. Sa-ad Dinnakorn.
 "Exactly, but
medical formulas are not the only thing to be considered when treating
patients. Thai medicine doctors also have to know how to Yak Kra
Sai meaning to prescribe supplementary herbs to ease patients when
taking the medicine and enhance medication effectiveness. Therefore,
when a Thai medicine doctor diagnoses each patient, he/ she will
prescribe one medical formula accompanying with another Kra Sai
medication formula," said the doctor. "Another factor that helps
improving the medicine effectiveness is medicine used for adjusting
our principle elements. Thai medicine pharmacists will mix this
kind of medicine according to the doctors' orders. These medicines
are suitable for each individual person, for example, those who
cannot sleep may receive different type of element adjusting medical
formulas. In case that one principle element is less than the others,
herbs being used will be hot such as dry ginger, Jettamoon Plerng
root, Dee Plee flower and other mild taste herbs such as Malila
(Jasminum sambac), Sarapee (Mammea siamensis Kosterm), and Bua Luang
pollen (Nelumbo nucifera)
These are all the reasons
why Thai medicine science deserves to be protected and promoted
so that Thai people can benefit from it and why we want to support
the wisdom of Thai medicine not only at a surface level but at its
very heart.
I almost can't wait
to see Balavi - Traditional Thai Medicine Clinic and to imagine
every nurse and staff, normally wearing their uniforms, dressing
in traditional Thai suits and turning Balavi Natural Health Center
into a Thai medicine clinic with traditional Thai atmosphere every
Sunday.
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