ANTARA - Jamu or traditional Indonesian herbal medicine will in future be used in public health services alongside conventional drugs, Health Minister Endang Rahayu S. said here Wednesday.
"Even now, jamu is already being officially used in public health services, albeit still in a promotional sense and for preventive purposes," Endang said after launching a program to scientifically certify a number of jamu products.
Jamu was now still being used to promote it among the public and as preventive medication, but eventually it will also be applied in curative processes, the minister said.
"Then, jamu will also serve as a means to rehabilitate a person's health, or in recuperating from an illness," she said.
Therefore, the government had deemed it necessary to sponsor the scientific certification of jamu through qualitative and quantitative research.
To support the use of jamu in public health services, there would also be physicians and clinics specializing in jamu-based medicine, and jamu or herbal dispensaries, Endang said.
Developments in the states of health of patients being treated in jamu clinics would also be put on record as part of the quantitative and qualitative studies of jamu's efficacy in curing illnesses.
The minister said Indonesia had thousands of herbal medicines whose curative properties were already known decades ago. Now it was time to produce them according to scientifically established standards and procedures, and make them part of the country's pharmacopoeia "before other parties do so," Endang said. s
