Under the overburdened health system of the country, sole dependency on allopathy cannot ensure universal coverage of health, and achieving that would require an integrative and pluralistic approach to healthcare, where complementary medicine like reflexology can find its place with proper acknowledgment, said speakers.
It deserves so, as reflexology is low cost, has no side effect, can be self-administered, and is efficient in early detection, prevention, and control of numerous diseases, they added.
These remarks were made by the country’s eminent health professionals at a virtual launching event of a book titled “Reflexology: Theory & Practice,” on Monday.
They argued for the inclusion of complementary medicine like reflexology into the national health policy and system and at the same time, they stressed the importance of building a self-help movement for health.
The online event took place from 7:30pm to 9:15pm at the official Facebook page of Harmony Trust, a private voluntary organization with a specialization on naturopathy.
Several reputed personalities were in the guest list including, Prof Rashid-E-Mahbub, the former pro-VC of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Prof Subhagata Chowdhury, the former the principal of Chittagong Medical College, Dr M Mushtuq Husain, an adviser to the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), eminent writer and senior journalist Sohrab Hasan, Md Shah Alam, DIG (Cyber Police of CID), anthropologist Prof Ainoon Naher, ecologist and ED of CNRS M Mokhlesur Rahman, and development activist Jyoti Chattopadhyay.
Harmony Trust organized the event on the inauguration of World Reflexology Week 2020, for the first time in the country.
The event was presided by public health expert Dr Muhammod Abdus Sabur, who is an adjunct faculty in the institute of health economics of the Dhaka University and is also the chairperson of Harmony Trust.
The session was moderated by ecologist and environment activist Pavel Partha.
Authors of the book, reflexologist Syeda Shahida Sultana and reflexology researcher Amitabha Bhattacharjee, the CEO of Harmony Trust, also took part in the event.