The Ministry of Health is in the process of creating a department and drafting regulations that will oversee alternative medicine clinics in the country, according to Dr. Sami Badawood, Director of Health Affairs in Jeddah. Dr. Badawood was quoted by Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic daily as saying that no alternative medicine clinic has been licensed, including those providing acupuncture services and treatment with bee stings. Badawood said clinics offering herbal treatments have been shut down for violating the ministry rules. The new regulations will cover all the clinics that provide acupuncture and herbal treatments, the official was quoted as saying. However, Al-Ruqya Al-Shariah treatment – healing through Qur'anic recitation — does not fall under the ministry's jurisdiction. Dr. Mouneera Balhamr, a community medicine consultant and head of the Awareness Department at the Primary Health Care Administration in Jeddah, said, “As far as I know no license has so far been given to any clinic in the Kingdom providing alternative medicine services.” But she said there are alternative medicine courses taught at medical colleges and that there are doctors trained in the field. Citing an example she said, “Specialists in modern medicine have started using honey for treating many diseases. Endocrinologists use honey as alternative sugar for diabetic patients because of its important nutritional elements which have nothing to do with what is shown on television advertisements.”
