$4m shot in the arm for alternative treatments
One of the biggest discrepancies in modern healthcare – that herbal and other alternative treatments have little of the formal scientific evidence demanded of prescription drugs – can now be tackled.
The Federal Government has announced a $4 million grant to establish a new National Institute for Complementary Medicine.
The new institute, to be based at the Campbelltown campus of the University of Western Sydney, will work out the priorities for future research projects looking at so-called natural therapies, which are thought to be soaring in popularity in Australia.
Announcing the grant Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott said Australians now spent about $1 billion each year on complementary and alternative medicines, such as vitamins, homeopathic medicines and traditional Asian medicines.
