Alternative therapies should be tested as rigorously as conventional medicine and practitioners subject to high standards of training and discipline, doctors say.

The Government has set aside $150,000 for a ministerial advisory committee to look into complementary healthcare.

The committee, announced as part of the Green Party Budget package, was still a few weeks away from being set up, a spokesman for Health Minister Annette King said.

It would be looking at patient protection and registration of complementary healthcare practitioners. It would also have a role in developing a research database, aiding new research and producing evidence on costs, risks and benefits.

New Zealand Medical Association chairman Pippa MacKay said the review must take "a scientific approach".

"Public health funding is too precious to be squandered on unproven therapies," she said.

"Alternative therapies must be subjected to the same rigorous scientific testing that conventional medicines face if they are to become integrated into the taxpayer-funded public health system." - NZPA

Supplied by New Zealand Press Association
　　
　　(From HealthWorld Online)