13th Acupuncture and Complementary Medicine Congress took place

Istanbul Medipol University hosted the three-day ‘13th Acupuncture and Complementary Medicine Congress’. Complementary medicine specialists came together at the congress held at the South Campus Conference Hall. Prof. İlhan Öztekin delivered the opening speech of the congress that was also attended by Prof. Sabahattin Aydın and Dr. Mahmut Tokaç from Istanbul Medipol University School of Medicine. Noting that traditional medicine has an important potential to contribute to human health, Prof. Öztekin said: “Ranging from herbal treatments to acupuncture, cupping and leech treatments to body therapies, these practices are based on thousands of years of experience and observation. It is an important task to bring traditional medicine to public health by examining it with scientific methods and placing it in a highly reliable framework.”

PROF. AYDIN: CONGRESS WILL CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIETY
Speaking at the congress, Prof. Sabahattin Aydın stated that the congress is valuable in terms of examining traditional medicine from all aspects. Prof. Aydın said: “When I was a member of the Board of Directors of the World Health Organization, great efforts were being made for the acceptance of ‘Chinese Medicine’, and I was also involved in these discussions. The World Health Organization has put this system on its agenda under the title of traditional medicine, not ‘Chinese Medicine’. In line with the principles set out by the World Health Organization, our Ministry of Health included traditional medicine in its legislation and created a department. This process coincided with the period I served as Deputy Undersecretary at the Ministry of Health. In this respect, I can say that I have contributed to the establishment of infrastructures, setting training standards and limiting authorizations. Therefore, I had the chance to influence the policies of traditional medicine rather than its direct practice. I believe that this congress will make a great contribution to addressing traditional medicine in all its aspects, presenting it for the benefit of society and evaluating it more effectively within our health system.”

DR. TOKAÇ: WE ARE PIONEERS IN TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
Dr. Mahmut Tokaç, a faculty member at Istanbul Medipol University School of Medicine, stated that they, as a university, have undertaken a pioneering role in the field of traditional and complementary medicine. Noting that they are happy to host the congress, Dr. Tokaç said: “In 2013, we established the Council of Higher Education (CoHE) approved Traditional and Complementary Medicine Application and Research Center (GETAT). The regulation was published in 2014. In those years, we received our application center and training center authorizations.” The congress featured 93 speakers, and 32 trainings were organized on different topics. The congress, to which companies interested in GETAT also contributed, also met the requirement of “participation in scientific meetings”, one of the criteria for certificate renewal set by the Ministry of Health for traditional and complementary medicine practices.