KUCHING: The Sarawak government is encouraging greater integration between eastern and western medicine.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said the potential of the state’s rainforest, which serves as a reservoir of medicinal plants could contribute to new drug discoveries.
“We want to encourage the interfacing of eastern and western medicine. Being in the midst of a rainforest, we have an abundance of plants that could serve as the basis for new medicines,” he said.
He said this when officiating at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Gleneagles Hospital Kuching here on Monday (Feb 24).
Abang Johari added that Sarawak was fortunate to have a rich diversity of trees and plants, unlike some other countries with limited natural resources which focus solely on western medical research.
“I visited Samsung Biologics in Seoul, and they are now trying to explore the possibility of combining western and (eastern) medicine, particularly in cancer treatment,” he said.
He noted that doctors are now using targeted treatments for cancer cells without harming other organs.
“I think this is one of the processes where you need to have a good solution to kill that cancer cell without attacking the other cells.
“I leave this to you, and the Sarawak government will give you the development and support on this,” he said.
Earlier, he said the state government has invested RM300 million for the setting up of the Sarawak Infectious Disease Centre (SIDC) as a proactive measure in tackling emerging diseases.
“The Covid-19 pandemic had shown the importance of preparing for potential new diseases that could emerge unexpectedly.
“Therefore, it is crucial to have accurate data and use artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse it so that we can explore solutions to infectious diseases,” he said.
He added the emergence of new diseases could be linked to people’s lifestyles and environmental factors, particularly polluted air.
“That is why the Sarawak government goes for environmental sustainability. We are very lucky our air is still fresh, even so we want our public transport to use hydrogen instead of fossil fuel.
“This is one of the basic investments we are putting in, in order to provide a good environment for people to live,” said Abang Johari.
