The Jakarta Post | Sun, 06/22/2008
Antara, Banjarmasin. Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country and has a vast variety of herbal plants, spawning about 40,000 traditional medicines.
The president director of herbal medicine maker PT Sido Muncul, Irwan Hidayat, presented the 40,000 odd traditional medicines to 200 physicians at a health seminar at the Swiss Bell Hotel, Jakarta, on Saturday.
Nearly 50 percent of the total herbal medicines were found in Kalimantan forests and the rest from other regions in Indonesia.
Many plants used for the medicines are now on the brink of extinction due to large-scale legal and illegal logging in the country over the past few years.
Sido Muncul can only cultivate approximately 1,200 types of medicinal plants, which are difficult to find in Indonesia today.
"We are very concerned about this condition. Fewer Indonesian citizens seriously care about the survival of medicinal plants currently on the brink of extinction," he said.
According to recent research, some traditional herbal medicines are able to strengthen antibodies. For example, Tolak Angin, used for the common cold, has been recognized as a medicine and no longer a herbal medicine.
Some doctors are convinced that traditional herbal medicines can cure some disease, but they are hesitant to prescribe them.
Dr Dharma, a member of the Indonesian Physicians Association, said he was unable to write prescriptions for herbal medicines. Instead, he recommends his patients use herbal medicine for certain diseases, but does not write out a prescription for them.
In Korea, hospitals are allowed to use herbal medicines.
"A patients in an advanced countries are given the chance to choose whether they want herbal or modern medicines," Dr Dharma said.