Conference on traditional & alternative health care set

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Institute and Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) will hold the 7th National Traditional and Alternative Health Care Convention and Exhibit 2015 on Nov. 25 and 26 at the Diamond Hotel.

With the theme “Traditional and Complementary Medicine: Perspective and Challenges Towards Integration into the National Health Care Delivery System,” PITAHC aims to gather traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM) stakeholders as a primary step towards achieving its goal of integrating T&CM into the national health care delivery system while at the same time preserving the Philippine traditional medicine (PTM) heritage. Hence, the theme of the forthcoming convention and exhibit.

Opening ceremonies will be led by DOH Secretary Jannete P. Loreto-Garin, MD, MBAH and PITAHC director-general Dr. Isidro C. Sia while keynote speaker will be former DOH Secretary Dr. Jaime Z. Galvez-Tan who will deliver the first Senator Juan M. Flavier Memorial Lecture to honor the achievements of the late senator and DOH Secretary in the field of Philippine traditional medicine.

The conference proper will feature speakers representing the government, private sector, academe, health professionals, civil society, the indigenous community, and industry aside from T&CM organizations and individual practitioners.

The first day of the conference will cover topics such as Philippine traditional medicine; traditional medicine and natural products research; T&CM research — current and emerging paradigms. The second day will tackle T&CM: scanning the academic horizon; T&CM in the community: complementing, integrating and mainstreaming; T&CM: role in universal health care; and the Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act (TAMA).

PITAHC carries out its mandate through a board of trustees composed of representatives from government agencies, as follows: DOST, DENR, DA, DepEd and CHED, as well as representatives from various sectors like industry, environment, academe, the medical profession, the T&CM professional and, in general, those, engaged in the practice and research of T&CM, among others. The board is chaired by the Secretary of Health.

The agency was created by virtue of Republic Act No. 8423, otherwise referred to as “Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act” (TAMA) of 1997 with the primary objective of accelerating the development of traditional and alternative health care in the Philippines and providing for a traditional and alternative health care development fund.