These days, many people around the world have greater choice in health care than ever before. Now, we can easily call on our family physician on phone rather than meet him in the hospital, or go online for some Alternative cures rather than looking around for some Natural Cure experts.
Among the Alternative Therapies now available are Acupuncture, Aromatherapy, Herbal Medicine, Ayurveda (Traditional India Medicine), Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chiropractic, Homeopathy, Massage, Yoga/Pilate / Reiki, Meditation, Crystal Healing,Energy Healing,Faith/ Spiritual Healing,etc.
All these in addition to the conventional medical and surgical techniques that are available in clinics and hospitals form the backbone of our Health care delivery system in Nigeria.
Some people choose just one healing method and stick to it. Others start with one approach, but if that doesn’t work after a while, they switch to another. Some combine two or more approaches at the same time.
In Nigeria, up till just under 200 years back, people rely only on Traditional Herbalists and Healers for health care services. And a lot of irregularities were associated with that practice,
amongst which were:
- Unhygienic preparations;
- Lack of correct dosing methods;
- Combining fetish practices with healing;
- Lack of knowledge about how the human body functions (human physiology) and its structures (human anatomy);
- Lack of standardized diagnostic means; and
- Lack of proper documentation.
It therefore was a relief when the missionaries brought with them the Western Medicine as we know it today.
The first Mission Hospital in Nigeria was established about 120 years back, in Abeokuta, Ogun State. And since then more lives have been saved, than in past century prior to its establishment.
Does it mean that there is really nothing good in our own Traditional Healing Methods?
Of course our Traditional Healing methods are good, but it is suffering from lack of proper documentations to show who complained of what at a particular time, what remedies were recommended or given,and what level of cure was established through a feedback from the patient.
The Ayurveda of India and the Traditional Chinese Medicine were well well documented. That is why the advent/spread of Western Medicine as Western civilization spread to these people could not overthrow their well documented Traditional Healing systems. As a matter of fact the Western Medicine had no option than to work hand in hand with the Traditional Medicine practices of these people.
Coming back to our own Traditional Medicines in Nigeria, in the past 25 to 30 years, the children and grandchildren of Native Doctors/Herbalists who had gotten Western education, especially the Medical Sciences started using their acquired knowledge to understand and upgrade what they inherited from their parents. And gradually, a new breed of Traditional Healers started surfacing. This new breeds did away with fetishism, started using their knowledge about Biochemistry, Human Anatomy and Physiology to interpret what their fathers, grand fathers, and great grand fathers taught them about the working and compounding of Herbal Remedies.
Some of them even deliberately go further to acquiring knowledge about the Ayurveda (Traditional India Medicine) and the Traditional Chinese Medicine, to enable them practice Acupuncture, Reflexology, Crystals Healing,etc.
These ones now present a formidable front in the re-emergence of our own Traditional Healing Modalities.
The Western Medicine indeed had all the opportunities it needed to be well documented and wax stronger. For example, it was easy for the forerunners in the field to use human bodies (both living and dead) in their many experiments. The knowledge of the well mapped out Nervous System, Cardiovascular System, and all other Systems in the human body came at certain prices. Slaves were dissected without anesthesia, and used as living “Guinea Pigs”.Up till today, dead bodies are still being dissected by Medical Students as part of their training. The dead bodies are referred to as cadavers and the course is called Gross or Morbid Anatomy.
We shall not go into the merits or demerits of how Western Medicine got to where it is today, rather we shall concern ourselves with how the knowledge benefits mankind, and also how such knowledge now influences the appreciation of our Traditional Herbal Practice.
Also, we shall not compare and contrast the Western Medicine and Traditional Medicines, but concentrate on the unfolding interplay(synergy) between them.
Majority may assume that conventional medicine works better or quicker than traditional medicine, but the issue of the side effects associated with conventional medicine makes it imperative to now start appreciating our own traditional medicines.
Traditional Medicine relies more on natural substances, mostly our food and herbs. Therefore, there are less incidences of side effects.
One may work better than the other, depending on the illness being addressed and the choice of the medicines, but one thing that is certain is that combining the best of both Conventional and Alternative Medicines will ensure best results.
Here are what some experts in both Conventional and Alternative Healing Practices says :
Prof. Oladapo Ashiru, (Professor of Anatomy /Reproductive Endocrinologist), wrote this in a National Newspaper:
“Through the centuries, natural therapies have been available and were used by emperors and kings alike to combat all manner of diseases, including cancer
Unfortunately, the use of such therapies has been suppressed in the past century in favor of western medicine…
The use of non-toxic natural therapies has been quite successful over the past few decades…
For 50 years, conventional treatments of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy have been the cornerstone of cancer treatment. Today, the clinical success of these procedures has reached a plateau and there is an urgent need to break through it with new ideas.”
Andrew T. Weil M.D., director of the program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tuscon wrote :
” If I’m involved in a serious auto accident, I want the ambulance to take me to the nearest high-tech trauma center. Mainstream medicine is the way to go for serious injuries. But let’s say I developed chronic pain as a result of the accident. Beyond narcotics, mainstream medicine doesn’t have much to offer. But several complementary therapies can help. I might try chiropractic, acupuncture, yoga, massage, or visualization therapy.”
Joseph Pizorno Jr., N. D., President of Bastyr University in Kenmore, Washington, which is the USA’s only accredited medical school that focuses on Alternative Therapies, wrote :
“I’m not opposed to pharmaceutical drugs or technological medicine. When the body’s self-healing systems have been overwhelmed by injury or infection, conventional approaches save lives. But in my opinion, pharmaceuticals are over-prescribed.
Their power is impressive in life-or-death situations. For everyday ailments, I prefer nonpharmaceutical therapies that support the body’s self-healing mechanisms. These therapies are gentler. They often work just as well. And they don’t breed resistance as antibiotics do. ”
In Conclusion:
Many mainstream physicians still look down on alternative therapies, some even still call them worthless! But many more have come to realize that their brand of medicine doesn’t have a monopoly on healing and that alternative approaches often are quite valuable. Many are gradually dropping the term “Alternative medicine” to a more suitable term “Complementary Medicine”.
Alternative means you can either have one or the other or, choose either Mainstream or Alternative.
“But Complementary says that these therapies neither replace mainstream medicine, nor antagonistic to it, rather they complete it, expanding it to include areas it has undervalued or overlooked– diet, exercise, traditional healing arts, and mind-body therapies.”
– Dr. Brauer, a medical expert.
Thank you.
- Being the Inaugural Speech by Prof By Prof. Kayode Maruff Oseni at his inauguration as a Professor of Natural Medicine by African American University, Porto Novo, Republic of Benin. Prof. Oseni, Faculty member of the University; Dean, Department of Naturopathy, Cyrillic College of Holistic Health Technology, Igbeba, Ijebu Ode; is the CEO, Founder and Consultant, Alayo Health Services Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
