THE Public Health Ministry's recent acceptance and admission of Cheevajit (body-and-mind) practice as a means to promote health and complement cancer treatment, is a significant first step for alternative medicine in Thailand.

Supporters, though admitting there was still a long way to go, said they believed this was the first step for such treatments, which hitherto were considered unconventional, on the road to becoming accepted health practices by the nation's public-health structure, which has long been dominated by modern medicine.

After a meeting on Dec 23, the Medical Registration Division's committee announced that exercising, eating and meditating the Cheevajit way conformed with the Public Health Ministry's accepted methods of promoting health.

The committee noted, however, that cancer patients practising the Cheevajit method should also continue to seek advice from a practitioner of modern medicine to ensure effective treatment.

The committee took the Cheevajit practice into consideration after complaints were made that it might contravene laws covering medical practitioners, especially when it was claimed to cure types of cancer.

According to its founder, Satis Intharakhamhaeng, the Cheevajit practice emphasises a healthy body and mind as well as a balance of the physical, emotional and mental aspects of one's self.

It also encourages the integration of several kinds of medicine, conventional and unconventional alike, under a wholistic approach.

Apart from exercising, drinking vegetable-juice extract and eating a rejuvenating concoction made of several grains, patients, mostly cancer sufferers, are advised to take megavitamins and eat brown rice, several kinds of whole grain and natural food. They are also told to avoid processed foods, meat-based products and foods high in fat and cholesterol.

In addition, patients are encouraged to think positively, detoxify their bodies if necessary and meditate.

One of the reasons patients find the practice appealing, like several other unconventional treatments, could be its individualised approach. In this age of managed medical care, people sometimes feel they lack control over their own health treatment.

Sufferers from several chronic degenerative diseases have begun to question conventional medicine because of its failure to relieve their suffering. They are increasingly seeking other options, so the Public Health Ministry's acceptance of the Cheevajit practice could not have come at a better time.

Only recently, thanks to the surge of public interest in alternative and complementary medicines, have health policy-makers started to rethink their approach to health care and allow the integration of other beneficial but previously unconventional medical treatments into the medical system.

Much of this change is due to an adjustment in attitudes, the amendment of outdated legislation on treatments and cooperation from producers of medicines and medical products, said Dr Chavalit Santikitrungruang, an adviser to the Medical Services Department and a major Cheevajit supporter.

For health care policy-makers, who were mostly schooled in conventional modern medicine, the increasing public interest in alternative methods of health care is of great concern. Many doctors see the movement as a direct challenge to their status as the pre-eminent health experts.

It is therefore not surprising that they view anyone classified as a practitioner of alternative medicine with caution and scepticism.

For instance, when public interest in blended vegetable-juice therapy gained momentum, some doctors, even those who classified themselves as practitioners of unconventional medicine, openly confronted the concoction's producer, Rossukont Phumphanwong.

They said her diagnostic methods of looking into patients' eyes and at the colour of their tongues were absurd, totally unconventional and unacceptable.

As the founder of the Cheevajit method, Satis was also confronted by opposition, especially when it was linked to curing cancer.

Whenever a new face emerges promoting a health-care practice unfamiliar to conventionally trained practitioners, it is subject to suspicion, inquiry and even legal action. This needs to change, Dr Chavalit said.

To understand complementary medicine, people need to also understand the proper meaning of health.

Thais have obviously become more concerned about their health. Business operators know this and many of them are offering what some may call ''good health in a capsule''. All of a sudden the local market has become flooded with so-called health foods, mostly expensive.

For most consumers who believe there is a short-cut to good health, the marketing of many self-proclaimed health foods, particularly via the mass media, works very well.

But unless people thoroughly understand the interrelationship between the elements of their daily life, their mind and bodily functions, there is no easy way to maintain good health.

The recent situation calls for a shift in the way people think about health, and for health-providers to explore a more holistic approach to health care, one that treats the body and mind in unison.

People should know that alternative medicine is not a complete substitute for conventional medicine. Neither does it have anything to do with supernatural or cult-like practices.

Alternative medicine should not be exploited as exotic and made expensive so that only certain privileged classes in society can derive its benefits while the majority find it out of reach.

It is the duty of all of us to explore the advantages of unconventional medical practices and learn more about how to control and maintain our health. Only then will we stop suffering unnecessary illnesses and keep the doctor away. -- The Nation

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