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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLES |
A Pilot Project On Herbalists And Professional Characteristics In Manİsa
Selim ALTANa
aTıbbi Etik AD, Celal Bayar Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, MANİSA
Objective: The purpose of the work is to determine the problems of the business group of herbalists by using scientific methods and to find solutions for these problems.
Material and Methods: The investigation of this business group was begun in the center of Manisa. 8 herbalist attented to that work. A survey consisting of 74 questions was prepared and given to these herbalists. In the evaluation of these survey, observation method was applied because some of the herbalists didn’t answer truthfully to some questions by the reason of legal and other fears. So observation method was used in stores to find some answers.
Results: As the result of the survey, it was found that the herbalists working in the center of Manisa used different business names, most of them were born in Manisa, belonging to the middle age group. All of them were men and did not have any certificate and didn’t take any training in relation with their business group. Their education level differed from primary school to the university and they learned this business by themselves. Most of them didn’t have another job and they lived on this job. Majority of their patients were women having chronic diseases, they demanded single plant or composition of plants. The education level of the patients differed and the patients had different jobs, some of them worked in health sector also. Some of the herbalists said that they didn’y cure sick people but all of them gave these plants in order to cure patients. The herbalists prepared, packed and stored the herbal, animal and mineral compositions without any scientific information, without any hygienic precaution. They recommended these compositions to the patients without any scientific base. In this work, the herbalists didn’t define themselves as alternatives to the medical science, they said that they tried to cure some diseases according to the traditional folkloric medical methods. The patients came to them because the doctors behaved them worse, the drugs were expensive, side effects of the drugs were high, sometimes curing effect of the drugs were low, they faced to negative behaviours in hospitals and treating of some diseases were impossible by doctors, so the patients accepted them as remedies.
Conclusion: The right of curing patients belong to the doctors in our country. The doctors must use their rights by taking the knowledge resulted from technological and scientific developments. Most of the diseases can not be cured completely by the doctors although medical science reached to todays’ level. The continuity and earnestness of research and development works by the institutions worldwide over human health can not prevent to have desperation feeling, death fear, panic of beeing disabled for the patients. Because of these feelings, patients tend to find other solutions, are interested in non-scientific methods. This situation causes other business groups to take place in the solution of these problems because of the big commercial profits. Herbalists, pharmacist assistants, fitness centers, beauty institutions, natural-ecological-organic food sellers and even pharmacists want to behave as a doctor sometimes. The most dangerous ones among these are the herbalists because they don’t have any education about medical science and the people accept them as experts to cure the diseases because of their historical role in our medical folklore. People have sympathy for the herbalists and accept them as a last remedy fo the curing. In our to prevent this danger, legal precautions must be taken immediately. People must be educated by medical staff and media. The relationships between the patient and the doctor must be developed and managed by giving priority to the humanity factor. Trust factor must be revealed and and precautions must be taken to prevent the leading of people to the non-scientific solutions. Besides these, medical students of our country must also be trained in the fields of phytoteraphy and public health by means of various seminars, courses in order to increase trust factor.Keywords: Herbalist, Manisa, alternative medicine, phytotherapy, folk medicineTurkiye Klinikleri J Med Ethics 2007, 15:30-38
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