To the Editor: Complementary medicines may lack evidence of safety and efficacy, but conventional medicine lacks evidence of efficacy in 30%–40% of cases,1 and the breast implant and hip replacement debates demonstrate safety concerns. The debates about conventional versus complementary medicine expose how out of touch the medical profession is with the views of government and the people about complementary medicine. The medical profession was once central to health care and an opinion leader. Now it forms a small proportion of all health professionals registered under the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), while complementary therapists provide half of health consultations2 and the public spends almost three times as much on complementary medicine ($3.5 billion)3 as it spends on prescribed medicines directly ($1.3 billion).4 Our profession’s influence on health policy has been compared with “an ineffective chorus muttering on the edge of the stage about keeping things the way they were”.5
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- 2. Xue CC, Zhang AL, Lin V, et al. Complementary and alternative medicine use in Australia: a national population-based survey. J Altern Complement Med 2007; 13: 643-650.
- 3. Access Economics and National Institute of Complementary Medicine. Cost effectiveness of complementary medicines. August 2010. http://www.nicm.edu.au/content/view/159/276/ (accessed Mar 2012).
- 4. Shaw B. Sustaining the PBS for the future. Speech to 2nd Future of Medicare Conference; 2010 Nov 11; Sydney, Australia. http://medicinesaustralia.com.au/files/2011/02/20101110-prs-speech-future-medicare-conference-11-November-2010.pdf (accessed Mar 2012).
- 5. Knott M. The top 10 lobbyists. 9. Steve Hambleton. The Power Index [internet] 2011; 22 Nov. http://www.thepowerindex.com.au/lobbyists/steve-hambleton (accessed Mar 2012).
- 6. Masters CS, Watt MI. Professional Services Review: unnatural justice. Med J Aust 2012; 196: 20-21. <MJA full text>
I receive sitting fees from the TGA as a member of the Advisory Committee on Complementary Medicines and from the Royal Australian College of General Practice (RACGP) as a member of the National Standards Committee. The TGA and the RACGP have had no control or influence in the decision to submit the final manuscript for publication.