Speaking to FMT, Parti Warisan Sabah’s Moyog assemblyman Terence Siambun said during his visits to tamus (markets) in the state, he was shocked to find that the TCM practitioners he spoke to were in the dark about the TCM Act and the requirement to register with the TCM council under the health ministry.
Under the TCM Act, which seeks to regulate the TCM industry, practitioners are required to register and obtain a practising certificate, failing which they risk being fined up to RM30,000 or jailed up to two years or both.
Subsequent offenders can be slapped with a fine of not more than RM50,000 or imprisonment not exceeding three years, or both.
Siambun said he had recently checked with the Sabah Health Department and they confirmed that no registration exercise of native TCM practitioners had taken place.
“The TCM Act is a positive development, especially for native TCM practitioners, as Kadazandusun Murut (KDM) traditional medicine has the potential to become a tourism attraction.”
He said that TCM was very much engrained in KDM culture, especially in interior areas where TCM practitioners sell herbs or tree barks.
Other native TCM practices include massages and pre-natal massages, as well as herbal medications.
“But our concern is that policies developed in West Malaysia haven’t been properly explained to the natives, especially those living in rural areas.
“They might be unknowingly breaking the law and we don’t want to see anyone being punished for this.”
Siambun said this was why it was crucial for the Sabah government to play its role in implementing laws passed at the federal level.
“My question is, did (federal ministers) Madius Tangau, Max Ongkili and Joseph Kurup, who are supposedly the champions of the KDMs in the interiors and are part of the federal cabinet, assist or facilitate the registration of the thousands of native TCM practitioners in Sabah?”
Siambun said he hoped the Sabah government would act immediately to assist and facilitate the registration of native TCM practitioners in the state.
Once this is done, Siambun said the state government should invest in promoting native TCM outside the country as a tourism product.
The TCM Act was gazetted last March and came into effect on Aug 1. It was reported that the TCM council would be established by the end of 2016. The TCM council had its first meeting in January.
Previously, the health ministry’s director of TCM division, Dr Goh Cheng Soon, said once the council is set up, it would become mandatory for all TCM practitioners in the country to seek registration and obtain a practising certificate.
Prior to the introduction of the Act, TCM practitioners could register voluntarily with the health ministry.
According to a NST Online report, as of last August, some 17,826 pracititoners had registered with eight bodies sanctioned by the ministry to represent Malay, Islamic, Indian, Chinese, homeopathy and complementary medicine.