Page 47 - Proceedings of The Fifth Meeting of Indigenous Medicine in the Mekong Basin

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11. TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
With the aim to extend the scope of health care services by traditional
medicine, two 50 bedded Traditional Medicine hospitals in Yangon and Mandalay
have been upgraded to 100 bedded hospitals and 16 bedded Monywa Traditional
Medicine hospital has been upgraded to 50 bedded in 2012.
Provision of Traditional Medicine Kits for
Emergency Use
This is one of the special achievements of
traditional medicine in Primary Health Care.There
are two objectives: one is to make essential
traditional medicines easily accessible for rural
people especially in hard to reach areas and two
is to minimize the cost of treatment for minor
illnesses.
The kit contains seven different kinds of
traditional medicines for minor illnesses,
methylated spirit, traditional tincture, cotton wool
and bandages for wound cleaning and dressing,
and it also contains an instruction leaflet and one
concise handbook. Pilot project started in August
2007 in Nay Pyi Taw. At the end of August 2012,
9796 Traditional Medicine Kits were distributed to
all States & Regions. According to the data and
reports from the township level, provision of
traditional medicine kits are effective and
beneficial to the rural dwellers. It also supports
and uplifts the health status of the people of
Myanmar in context of primary health care.

12. Herbal Gardens and Traditional Medicine Museums
With the aims of perpetuation of medicinal
plant species, sustainable development of herbal
medicines and provision of quality raw materials for
public and private pharmaceutical factories, the
department developed eight herbal gardens around
the country. The largest one which is designated as
the National Herbal Park is situated in Nay Pyi Taw
covering 196.4 acres of land since its inception on
4th January 2008. Thousands of medicinal plants of
nearly 500 different species are grown and nurtured, and commonly used and
valuable herbs according to regional habitat can also be studied.
There are three TM museums run by the
department: one in University of Traditional
Medicine, Mandalay and two in National Herbal
Park, Nay Pyi Taw. People from all walks of lives
can study the roots and current situation of
Myanmar Traditional Medicine at one sitting. The
raw materials from animal, plant, mineral and
aquatic sources used in TM drug formulations are