–talks afoot to establish research lab
MINISTER of Public Health, Volda Lawrence has called for a joint research on the use of alternative medicine between Guyana and China using Guyana’s “untapped resources” in the Amazon rainforest.
Lawrence told a Chinese delegation during a courtesy call at her office Monday, that Guyana has vast resources in the Amazon, which extends some six to eight million square kilometers, covering much of northwestern Brazil, extending into Colombia, Peru and other South American territories, including Guyana.
As the single largest remaining tropical rainforest in the world, and home to some 10 per cent of the world’s known biodiversity, Lawrence told Mr Huang Yuanzheng, Vice-Mayor of the populous city of Lianyungang, that she is looking forward to the agreeing of a pact between Guyana and China to establish a research laboratory, utilising the rich flora and fauna of the Amazon.
“China has a lot to offer after blazing the trail for the last 300 years,” Minister Lawrence told the Vice-Mayor, whose country has popularised the use of folk medicine as part of the regimen offered patients of one of the most populated countries on the Asian Continent.
Since taking over the public health portfolio almost a year now, Minister Lawrence has been exploring ways of guaranteeing the acceptance of local alternative, folk or traditional medicine within the governmental structure.
“China has a huge advantage in the use of traditional medicine,” Mayor Huang said.
Traditional Chinese medicine is a broad range of medicine practices sharing common concepts which have been developed in China, and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage, exercise and dietary therapy.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines traditional medicine as the sum of the total knowledge, skills and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis improvement of treatment of physical and mental illness.
The global health agency has highlighted the difference between alternative medicine and quackery, noting that “inappropriate use of traditional medicine” can be harmful to users.
Guyana and China established diplomatic relations in 1972, and both Minister Lawrence and Mayor Huang, who is Vice-Mayor of a city whose population is more than five times that of Guyana, spoke of deepening their ties and strengthening their bonds. And, to quote Mayor Huang, it’s also about “pushing for better understanding of each other.”
He was elated Monday that both the Prime Minister, Mr. Moses Nagamootoo and Minister Lawrence spoke glowingly of the contributions of Chinese medical specialists to the local health sector.
Minister Lawrence said the expertise of the Chinese doctors has helped reduce maternal deaths nationwide in the last two years. Public Health Ministry statistics show that maternal death fell from 111 per 100,000 in 2015 to 101 per 100,000 last year.
Part of the delegation accompanying Mayor Huang on Monday were: Mr. Xiaoming Li, of the No.1 Hospital; Mr. Hui Shi, of the No. 2 Hospital; Mr. Wei Zhou, Director of the Health Bureau and Mr. De Yong Fan, Director of International Exchange.
