Complementary medicine to change face of health care

Consumers were driving a revolutionary integration of complementary and conventional medicine that would change the face of healthcare in Australia, the National Press Club was told today.

Professor Stephen Myers, Director of the Australian Centre for Complementary Medicine Education and Research (ACCMER), a medical doctor and complementary medicine practitioner, told the Press Club in a nationally broadcast address that a new system of integrated medicine would usher in an era underpinned by medical evidence for non-conventional treatments and a greater emphasis on disease prevention.

He said the acceptance of evidence-based medicine in conventional circles would continue to assist in the adoption of CM therapies, because practitioners would no longer be able to ignore their effectiveness.

“When a complementary medicine or health practice is demonstrated to be as effective or safer than a conventional medicine or practice, this information can not be ignored, or side-lined by vested interests. In the emerging era of evidence-based medicine, it would be considered unethical and negligent for health care not to utilize more effective or safer therapies, “ Prof Myers said.

“It is inevitable that the health care system that we know today, must change, it must develop a more humanistic face and place optimizing health as its primary focus.”

Prof Myers said comparatively few health resources were directed at disease prevention and health maintenance.

“Against this background complementary medicine has captured the interest and the imagination of the Australian population and has been on the rise for the past two decades. Nevertheless, CMs move into the mainstream is unlikely to be smooth or simple.”

ACCMER is a joint venture of The University of Queensland and Southern Cross University. For more information visit www.accmer.edu.au .