New T&CM centre opens in Klang Valley

The Sunway Group Healthcare Malaysia recently launched a traditional and complementary medicine centre, aptly named Sunway Traditional and Complementary Medicine (TCM) Centre.

The new T&CM centre is situated at Sunway Geo, across the road from the iconic Sunway Medical Centre. According to Sunway group founder and chairman, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr Jeffrey Cheah, T&CM is now almost universally recognized, with 170 out of 194 member states of the WHO officially recognizing the field. “Many [of these countries] have even developed laws, policies, and programmes [to regulate] this sector.”

Cheah said the new centre is committed to a multidisciplinary approach in providing medical care, coupled with a holistic philosophy in healthcare. “For too long, modern medicine has dismissed many of these traditional methods as being mere folk tales rooted in ignorance. It was only in recent times science itself has begun to verify that these natural remedies are actually effective,” said Cheah.

Patients will be subjected to personalized and tailored treatment plans based on a thorough understanding of normal functions and disease processes. The new centre will offer regular treatments such as acupuncture, moxibustion, herbal medication, dietary therapy, tui na, gua sha and more. All these will help complement treatment for specialist areas such as oncology, integrative oncology, gynaecology, orthopaedics, and cases related to trauma.

Dr Lim Ren Jye, head of the Sunway TCM Centre, said: “We have the advantage of having a team of professionals qualified in both western medicine and T&CM. We have a T&CM practitioner who has a MBBS [degree] and a pharmacist with a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy plus a herbal medicine background. This allows them to understand the benefits of what both fields of medicine can offer, thus provide the best possible options and treatment management for our patients.”

Also present at the launch of the new centre was deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye, who echoed Cheah and noted that the development of T&CM was in line with the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-2023, which recognizes the contribution of T&CM to health. He said: “We are guided by a vision that one day, T&CM and modern medicine will harmoniously coexist for a strengthened health system.”

He added: “T&CM is now an industry estimated to be worth about US$60 billion a year and is growing at 11 percent annually.” Locally, the government is looking to develop and guide the T&CM industry. Lee said the National T&CM Blueprint 2018-2027 was launched in 2018 to facilitate the regulation of T&CM and health system integration, as well as to encourage the economic development of the T&CM industry so that it can be a meaningful contributor to Malaysia’s healthcare, economic and socio-cultural goals in the next 10 years.

Lee added, the blueprint is the culmination of the aspiration and ambitions of the industry as well as the targets put forth by the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-2023, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and Universal Healthcare (UHC). “As we move forward, we hope to unleash the full potential of T&CM by encouraging the full integration of T&CM in the national health system.”

Ed: TCM can sometimes be used to acronymize Traditional Chinese Medicine, hence the acronym T&CM is usually preferred for traditional and complementary medicine.