Ministry organizes 'Islamic medicine' congress under tutelage of Turkish President’s wife

An "Islamic medicine" congress including topics such as cupping therapy, hypnosis and prophetic medicine to be organized by the Ministry of Health under the auspices of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s wife between April 19-22, 2018
Saturday, 03 March 2018 21:09

The 1st International Traditional and Complementary Medicine Congress will be held by the Ministry of Health with the support of the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's wife Emine Erdoğan. The Vice-chair of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) is one of the members of the 'science' board of the congress attended by theologians, lawyers and physicians.

The congress covers topics such as 'prophetic medicine', 'pyreto-therapy in the treatment of cancer', 'hypnosis in dentistry', 'cupping therapy for children', and 'homoeopathy in somnipathy (sleep disorder)'.

Non-scientific approaches show themselves in healthcare fields as "alternative medicine", "homoeopathy", "cupping therapy", "leech therapy" and "hypnosis". These reactionary practices, massively increased during the ruling AKP party, allow quack doctors to drain our health and poses a threat to public health and safety.

The Ministry of Health also issued "the Regulation on Traditional and Complementary Medicine Practices", and legitimized unscientific methods as well as quack 'doctors'.

VICE-CHAIR OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS IS ON THE 'SCIENCE BOARD'

The slogan of the congress will be "Anatolian Medicine in the Cradle of Civilizations". The Vice-chair of Religious Affairs Huriye Martı and the Counsellor of Presidency İbrahim Saraçoğlu will take be part of the Science Board of the congress.

"THIS IS AN ALL-OUT ATTACK AGAINST MODERN MEDICINE"

Regarding the AKP government's alternative medicine congress, Assoc. Prof. Dr. İlker Belek from Akdeniz University Medical Faculty Department of Public Health said, "15 primitive practices are included in the field of medicine under the name of 'Chinese medicine' and backed only by anecdotal evidence. We have to professionally and technically confute these unscientific sophistries. These kinds of congresses constitute an all-out attack against modernity, and the field of medicine has been specially targeted by the government in this respect."   

Dr. Ebru Basa, one of the former executives of the Ankara Chamber of Medical Doctors, stated, "An unprecedented and historically significant period of reactionary practices and the decline of reason are some of the major causes allowing these kinds of Islamist practices being easily adopted by the educated middle class and presented as an alternative to modern/scientific medicine."

"Another reason is, of course, the field of health which has been corrupted as it enters market dominance. Otherwise, it is not possible for a rational person to rely on traditional and complementary medical practices that have not been scientifically proved via evidence-based medicine," Basa concluded.