accrediting acupuncturists

Acupuncturists participated in a public hearing of the implementing rules and regulations of the Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act of 1997 (RA8423) for the accreditation of acupuncturists. The landmark law allows non-doctors to practice acupuncture thereby allowing a highly effective form of treatment accessible to more people. Below are photos of participants, majority of whom are non-doctors and come from community-based health programs, treating each other just before the start of the second day of public hearings.

IT IS NOT A HAIRSTYLING SEMINAR.

sis. gloria receiving acupuncture treatment from one of her students.
sis. gloria is not grimacing in pain. that is just the way she is when she proudly demonstrates what her former students, now full-time acupuncturists, can do. sis. gloria was actually a nurse before she became a nun. she holds an acupuncture clinic and training center for the poor in pandacan.
administering scalp acupuncture which they recently learned from a visiting renowned american acupuncturist.

The First PITAHC Acupuncture Accreditation Committee Meeting

Juvencio Ordoña, MD, the new OIC-Director General of the Philippine Institute of Traditional & Alternative Health Care (PITAHC), presents draft guidelines for the accreditation of acupuncturists in the Philippines. Francis Ras, MD on far right, Edgardo Javillonar, MD on far left, and Jennifer Madamba, MD on foreground. PITAHC is a government body tasked with the development and regulation of alternative medicine in the Philippines.
Jenny Madamba and Ed Javillonar review the guidelines which had actually been drafted and had already undergone public hearings in 2004. Dr. Ordoña promises to get things done fast this time.
Discussion at the office of PITAHC, 24th floor, Atlanta Building, Greenhills.
The newly installed Acupuncture Accreditation Committee with the Director General. (Left to right): Edgardo Javillonar, MD, Jennifer Madamba, MD, Juvencio Ordoña, MD, yours truly, and Alfonso Lagaya, MD. Not in the picture: Angela Garcia, MD, and Francis Ras, MD.
Dr. Ordoña relates his encounter with the needle.
Dr. Ordoña and Dr. Lagaya: the present and former bosses of PITAHC.
Al Lagaya undergoes acupuncture at end of meeting. Jenny administering.