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By
: Suy Se, Picture by : Bobby Viceral.
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A colorful display of ingredients
outside a traditional medicine supplies shop in
Phnom Penh.
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While a
lot of people all over the world are turning to
modern medicine to treat diseases, why do some Cambodians
still use Khmer traditional medicine? Is it because
it is cheap and effective, or merely old habits
dying hard?
Cambodians usually deal with illnesses through both
modern and traditional medicine, often self-medicating
and inevitably using more than one treatment for
the same illness. However, those who use traditional
medicine can in fact save themselves money.
In Cambodia, there is access to over-the-counter
drugs at low costs, since most are often produced
in the region. Western produced medication is available
in urban areas but the costs are relatively higher.
This has lead to it often being a last resort when
all else has failed.
Khmer traditional medicine is a form of naturopathy
and combines differing roots, barks, leaves |
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of various trees,
some minerals and other natural ingredients. In total
this branch of medicine can treat more than 100 different
diseases. Practitioners of this therapy are known as Kru
Khmer.
According to Mr. Yean Ysreng, Deputy Director of National
Center of Traditional Medicine, "About 40 to 50 percent
of the population in remote areas are using traditional
medicine because they are poor and it is cheaper than
Western medicine. It also cures them of their ailments
all the same."
The ancient Khmers first formulated this medical lore,
during and around the Angkor period. From the turn of
the first millennia until the present day, this system
of treatment has served the people of Cambodia.
"At that time, they only had traditional medicine
to treat illness--they did not have hospitals yet,"
said Yean Ysreng. "They also didn't have microscopes
and they dealt with illness by guessing the disease. For
example, when they saw someone coughing they would guess
that it was tuberculosis."
"Today, we don't totally depend on traditional medicine,
we should look to science," he said. |
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Using traditional
remedies has no side effects: an advantage natural
remedies have over their more chemical orientated
counterparts. However there are also several poisonous
plants that could be mistakenly administered. When
correctly administered the toxicity of traditional
remedies is hugely lower than the western alternatives.
Yean Ysreng highlights: "Usually, Western medicine
is a double edged sword, as is traditional medicine.
They can sometimes help but sometimes make people
worse."
Khmer traditional doctors are receiving recognition
and training from the government at The National
Center of Traditional Medicine. At the Center they
are also looking for other traditional healers from
across the kingdom. In this way, they hope to be
able to train them to a uniform level and to assimilate
their localized knowledge. The Center is interpreting
books from Pali into Khmer, these texts describe
traditional medicine and have been gathered from
pagodas and even as far a field as the Middle east.
"We have already interpreted 50 percent of
the books, the young generations don't understand
the Pali language," he said. "We will
produce booklets about traditional medicine when
we finish translating them."
Whilst a cure for AIDS has eluded the Western medical
world, there are some Kru Khmer who allege they
can treat this modern plague. Mr. Yean Ysreng is
skeptical--with the wealth and technology of the
western world not able to find a cure, he finds
it difficult to imagine a rural Kru Khmer finding
one. What these doctors offer is unclear, but Ysreng
adds, "I cannot say it is effective in AIDS
treatment."
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The horseshoe crab, starfish
and sea cucumber are common ingredients
in traditional medicine.
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According to a
reference book on natural medicine by Puth Yeang, a member
of the Association of Cambodian Traditional Doctors, Khmer
traditional medicine is a very effective treatment of
illnesses, if we carefully learn about both the disease
and the cure.
Nowadays, Khmer traditional medicine is available in market
places as well as in traditional doctors’ surgeries
in Phnom Penh. However even this practice has its share
of unscrupulous practitioners and caution should be practiced.
If in doubt, check with the Association first to see if
the Kru Khmer is registered.
A typical morning, in the front of the Phnom Penh shop
of traditional practitioner Ly Bunarith, there must be
about 20 people from across Cambodia waiting to discuss
their sickness and to buy traditional medicine. As one
patient emerges another would enter, this pattern would
be repeated throughout the morning. |
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A patient being prescribed with
packets of traditional herbs for his complaints.
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Ly Bunarith,
is well known throughout the country as a skilled
practitioner of traditional medicine. He said, "Khmer
traditional medicine has little side effects to
people's health
and people quickly recover from their illness. "If
we properly compound it, traditional medicine treats
sickness effectively and the patient will recover.
When we know how to use it, we will save a lot of
money because Cambodia has many medicinal plants,
such as the Kinin medicine (used to treat malaria)
made from hopeaodorata tree (in Khmer called Duem
Koki)," he said.
Another example of Cambodia medicinal flora is the
root of the "Tau Tim" tree which is used
to treat intestinal worms.
"When properly administered, patients recover
and do not suffer side effects. But it could sometimes
lead to people dying when they don't know how to
compound it properly and take an overdose. Here
is also a kind of tree called "Duem Pleung"
which is traditionally used by women after childbirth.
People do not know that it burns the skin and should
not be carried on |
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the shoulder.
When they go to jungle to harvest for it, they often suffer
a swollen shoulder on the way back--that is a problem,"
Ly Bunarith said.
Furthermore, some traditional medicines react with Western
medication, and are not necessarily beneficial. "Bra
Teal" is one such example. According to Ly Bunarith
and other traditional doctors "Bra Teal" is
harmful when taken with Western medicine.
"If the traditional medicine is compounded totally
from plants, then it is alright to take a Western pill
with a small cup of traditional concoction." Ly adds.
In this way the western and eastern knowledge are used
as complimentary therapies.
Sin Saron, a 45 year-old farmer from Kampong Chhnang who
brought her son suffering a gastric ailment to a traditional
doctor's house in Phnom Penh said that she had “spent
much money on Western medicine for my son but my son is
still sick.”
"This is the first time I come here because I heard
that our traditional medicine has been very effective
in dealing with illnesses," said Sin Saron. "I
hope that with this medicine, my son will recover and
it cost me little."
In Cambodia, most traditional doctors take tree bark,
roots and herbs from trees to compound as Khmer medicine.
These can be found on many mountains across the nation.
To make the traditional medicine very effective, before
cutting each tree they have to light incense sticks and
ask permission from the Neak Ta (Mountain spirit), who
is believed to be the owner of the trees. Moreover, it
is also believed that in order for the herbs to be truly
effective, they have specific times of cutting them. Some
trees should be cut at the trunk only in the morning,
the leaves in the afternoon and the roots at night. A
more controversial ingredient is animal parts. These have
for centuries provided alleged cures. However, it is only
now, in this era of conservationism, that tradition has
met its match. With huge emphasis on stopping illegal
wildlife trade, this practice is being increasingly pressured
out of existence. It is still widespread and has always
played a part in traditional medical practice. Whilst
researching the story, many of the recipes collected for
the cures contained animal parts. A traditional cure for
Measles (an illness almost eradicated in the west, through
massive inoculation practices, but rampant in the developing
world.) contains the gall bladder of python as an active
ingredient. With there being very little scientific data
to support the healing properties of such animal parts,
it is necessary perhaps to move towards a more herbological
aspect of traditional medicine?
It seems that people are more willing to try local medicine,
both out of economic causes and due to its traditional
role in society. So it is both cheaper and an old habit
that is hardly dying. |
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Suite
B8, Regency Square, InterContinental Hotel, 294 Mao Tse Toung
Boulevard,
Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia.
Tel: (855) 23 213 133 Fax: (855) 23 213 033
E-mail:
editor@leisurecambodia.com |
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