Traditional Complimentary Medicine

T&CM Policy in 2001 with a vision to eventually integrate T&CM into the
Malaysian modern healthcare system. In 2008, the pilot project of setting up T&CM services at 3 government hospital has been established at Putrajaya Hospital, Kepala Batas Hospital (Pulau Pinang) and Sultan Ismail Hospital (Johor Bharu).

Traditional and Complementary Medicine Unit in Hospital Putrajaya started to operate on 3^rd March 2008 by offering traditional Malay massage and acupuncture treatments for post stroke and chronic pain patients. The treatments intend to help improve stroke patients’ rehabilitation and reducing the pain in chronic pain patients. Chronic pain is defined as persistent pain such as migraine, knee pain, back pain and others. Later on 1^st October 2008, the unit has added herbal treatment into their service. Herbal treatment is provided to cancer patients as an adjunct to conventional cancer treatment. Malay traditional post natal care is another new service introduced on 17^th July 2009.

Malay Traditional Medicine has taken root in Malaya since 13^th century. The practice embraces many different treatments namely body massage, fracture massage, herbal treatment, post natal care, Islamic medicine, senaman tua, and cupping.

Generally Malay Massage can be mainly divided into 2 categories, that is :

a) wellness massage.

In wellness massage, the whole body is being massaged. It helps in reducing anxiety, improving quality of sleep and in reducing stress.

b) therapeutic massage.

Therapeutic massage on the hand, only massage affected body part. Therapeutic massage helps to improve the condition of particular illness and in reducing severity of pain. Common illness that benefit from such massage includes low back pain, migraine, etc.

The massage this unit offered is therapeutic massage and is indicated for chronic pain and stroke. The masseur will massage the affected area only, not the whole body. Chronic pain does not cover chronic diseases (such as hypertension, diabetes and others) and acute condition (namely sprain, factures, etc). Patients may experience side effects such as temporary pain or discomfort, bruise, swelling and allergic to massage oil following massage treatment.

MALAY POSTNATAL CARE

The Malay traditional treatment related to women’s health are very well established, beginning from puberty, through marriage, pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, postnatal care and related female problems. In post natal treatments, emphasis is given to herbal treatments for vitality, improvement of blood flow and quick recuperation of the uterus, pelvic floor muscles and abdominal muscles. There are also aromatherapy treatments for postnatal blues, and massage for improving blood circulation and toning of muscles. Food intake is considered another important factor in post natal treatment.

Up to this date, only Hospital Sultan Ismail, Johor Bharu and Hospital Putrajaya provided the Malay traditional postnatal massage for mothers who have normal delivery. However in T&CM Unit, only Malay postnatal wellness massage (including breast care) and midwifery care is afforded.

Breast care involves breast massage and teaching the techniques to mothers in performing the massage at home. This is to help mothers to gain confidence and compliance in breastfeeding their infants.

At T&CM Unit, the midwifery care practice includes whole body massage, hot compression (bertungku) and body wrapping/binding (bengkung). Massages increases circulation which helps with the removal excess fluids, reduces swelling and speeds the total healing process. It is usually carried out 1 week after normal delivery and 40^th day of confinement period.

Acupuncture is a branch of Traditional Chinese Medicine which mainly involves the theory of meridians, location, usage, indications and combinations of acupoints, needling manipulations. Acupuncture is for unblocking Qi (i.e internal energy) by inserting needles at particular points on the body. The modern scientific explanation is that needling the acupuncture points stimulates the nervous system to release chemicals in the muscles, spinal cord, and brain. These chemical will either change the experience of pain (e.g endogenous opiod neuropeptides) or they will trigger the release of other chemicals and hormones which influence the body’s own internal regulating system.

Acupuncture is performed by inserting sterilised disposable needles, applying heat or electrical stimulation at a precise acupuncture points. This is to encourage body natural healing and to improve body function.

In this unit, the treatment is for chronic pain and stroke. Acupuncture patients may have side effects such as dizzy, pain during insertion or withdrawal of acupuncture needle and local pain after acupuncture needle being withdraw.

Traditional Chinese Medicine dates back almost 5,000 years. It includes a range of traditional medicine practices i.e acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion, herbal treatment, tuina (massage), Qi Gong and Tai Chi.

The T&CM Unit cater Chinese herbal treatment for cancer patients. It serves as an adjunct (i.e. supportive) to conventional cancer treatment (i.e. surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy). The aim of Chinese herbal treatment is to:

1.  Firstly, please get a referral letter from your doctor. And in the case of herbal treatment, patients need to be referred by their specialist. Thus, upon making an appointment, please bring along the referral letter.

2.  Appointment date will be given after :

a) our staff on duty has verified that the treatment you’ve chosen suits you and within our scope of service.
b) you had agreed to comply with Two treatment sessions per Week. (This applies to acupuncture and Malay massage).

Head of Unit

Location
TCM Department
Ground Floor, Putrajaya Hospital,
Precinct 7, 62250 Putrajaya