Page 45 - Proceedings of The Fifth Meeting of Indigenous Medicine in the Mekong Basin

39

and delicate branch of science covering various basic medical knowledge, different
treaties, a diverse array of therapies and potent medicines.
Traditional Medicine promotion office was established under the Department
of Health in 1953. It was organized as a division in 1972 managed by an Assistant
Director who was responsible for the development of the services under the
technical guidance of the State Traditional Medicine Council. It became the focal
point for all the activities related to traditional medicine. The Government upgraded
the division to a separate Department in August 1989. It was reorganized and
expanded in 1998, to provide comprehensive traditional medicine services through
existing health care system in line with the National Health Plan. The other
objectives of the department are to review and explore means to develop safe and
efficacious new therapeutic agents and medicine and to produce competent
traditional medicine practitioners.

9. Human Resource Development in Traditional Medicine
Before 1976, the knowledge of
Myanmar Traditional Medicine was handed
down from one generation to another. In
1976, with the aim to improve the qualification
of traditional medicine practitioners, the
Institute of Traditional Medicine was
established and systematic training
programmes were introduced to train and
produce competent Traditional Medicine
Practitioners. A three year course including
one year internship was conducted and
Diploma in Traditional Medicine was conferred to successful candidates. The yearly
intake of students is about 100. The institute had already produced (2187) diploma
holders.
The University of Traditional Medicine was established in 2001. The
curriculum was jointly developed by
Myanmar Traditional Medicine
Practitioners and medical educationists.
It is a five year course including one year
internship covering all four major
systems (Nayas) of Traditional Medicine,
basic sciences and basic medical
sciences of western medicine. The
degree conferred is Bachelor of
Myanmar Traditional Medicine
(B.M.T.M). The yearly intake is about