HSA opens alternative medicine clinic
(CNS) The Health Services Authority has opened a Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Clinic, which offers treatments that fall outside of orthodox medicine and a herbal medicine dispensary. The service is being offered from the HSA’s new and spacious specialist clinic on the third floor of the Smith Road Centre in George Town.
Various types of natural products and herbal remedies, some which have been used by Caymanians for many years, as well as mind and body practices and other complementary health approaches are on offer to help with a variety of conditions, such as colds, flu, post-viral fatigue, stress and anxiety, muscle, back and joint pain, digestive health, hypertension, women’s, men’s and children’s health issues, weight concerns, cleansing and detox.
“CAM works in conjunction or together with conventional medicine,” said Caymanian Herbal Medicine Practitioner and Medical Doctor, Dr Irka Ebanks.
“It takes a very holistic approach towards healing, by supporting the body’s own natural effort in achieving a balanced state of positive energy and optimum physical health. CAM may also encourage the use of naturopathic medicine, which embraces the idea that one should not only attack symptoms of illness but attack it at its root cause, which may be influenced by poor diet, lack of sleep, mental health struggles and other situational factors that can adversely influence a person’s physical and mental health,” she added.
For many years Caymanians have used herbal remedies and natural ways to cure a variety of ailments, as the knowledge about which plants, shrubs and herbs are good for which ailments was passed down through the generations.
“They have found that the use of specific herbs is effective in healing ‘suffering’ areas of the body and mind, treating them, with an aim for restoration to a state of normality,” said Dr Ebanks. “However, herbal remedies should be treated with caution, as they are medicines – persons should be aware that there are possible interactions with pharmaceutical medications, supplements and other herbs, therefore should only be administered under the care of a physician.”
Dr Ebanks obtained her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree (MBBS) in 2013 after studying at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona, Jamaica and UWI, School of Clinical Medicine & Research, Nassau Bahamas in 2013. She has gained experience at Kingston Region Public Hospitals – Kingston Public Hospital, Victoria Jubilee Hospital and Bustamante Hospital for Children and Health City Cayman Islands. In 2019 she graduated from the College of Naturopathic Medicine, London, with a Diploma in Herbal Medicine and a Diploma in Naturopathy, after which she returned home and joined HSA as a medical doctor.
Working alongside Dr Ebanks and managing the Herbal Pharmacy is Rosemarie Bailey, who has been registered as a pharmacist for over 28 years and holds a Master’s in Clinical Pharmacy. She is a trained cannabis provider, has trained in herbal medicine and is a medical missionary.
Opening hours are Mondays to Thursdays 8am to 4pm and Fridays 8am to 12pm.
To find out more about the CAM service visit the HSA website
or call the Specialist Clinic at 244-7750 or 244-7751.
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Category: Health, Medical Health
No doubt it has a cure for Covid.
Dr Irka,
We are exceedingly proud of you and your commitment to the medical profession.
Combining your conventional training as a fully qualified physician with naturopathy creates an incredible combination of skills that can address the needs of patients who have become resistant, allergic or ill from their regular pharmaceutical prescriptions.
Cancer centres around the world, some of the USA’s largest health centres, the NHS are all opening up this door and here you are as a young Caymanian with the vision talent and dual qualifications to introduce this here in Cayman.
Kudos to the HSA for this progressive and modern approach.
Do not be discouraged by the blogging hooligans on this thread making light of your abilities. Life has a funny way of bringing these people into direct contact/care of the very same people they mock.
You are going to do an incredible job for the people of the Cayman Islands.
All the best,
A very proud and grateful Caymanian
👍👍👍👍👍
Understanding the difference between evidence-based healthcare and wishful-thinking healthcare makes one a “blogging hooligan”? Really?
It’s bad enough that voodoo medicine is popular in the private sector. There is no way to justify supporting it with government tax dollars, the people’s money.
Alternative medicine means unproven medicine. If something turns out to work, it is then called just plain medicine. Don’t waste your money and risk your health on scams and nonsense.
To use tax dollars on pseudoscience nonsense is beyond irresponsible.
Wayne Panton, come on, you should know better.
FAHRENHEIT 451 is a classic science fiction novel and a powerful commentary on humankind’s urge to suppress what it doesn’t understand.
Today, sixty years after its original publication, its message has grown more relevant than ever before, it is The Book for our Social Media Age.
Read it. But it requires intelligence to understand.
It’s quite clear that you didn’t understand the book if you think it’s “The Book for our Social Media Age”. Apparently, you don’t have the required intelligence. Idiot.
Why ‘Fahrenheit 451’ Is the Book for Our Social Media Age.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/10/books/review/fahrenheit-451-ray-bradbury.html
Apologies! I interpreted your comment to mean that social media was the repository of ideas and free speech in the face of establishment/state censorship (burning).
Having read the article, I see you meant that social media is the antithesis of learning and knowledge, a bland and mind-dulling source of constant entertainment and the death of intellectual thought inspired by books. A platform where pseudoscience and “alternative facts” thrive.
Return go superstitions and primitive wishful thinking. Another(S)CAM.
You need to reread that book. It definitely was not a call for irrational beliefs to reign.
Huge step backward. Medical quackery/unproven medication and treatments should not be endorsed, encouraged, or financed in any way by government. This is an incredible dereliction of duty.
At best this will waste time and money. At worst this will do physical harm to people.
Proud of you cousin Irk and don’t let the negative people and those who maybe anti Caymanian discourage you. Many will seek medical help with alternative medicine and herbal treatment which are healthier and often more beneficial than conventional big pharma medicine.
Ah yes, rhino horn, tiger bone, shark fin, and other “natural cures” which have driven endangered species to the brink of extinction, driven by profit in the trade of these poached “traditional remedies”.
Oh, wait wait, don’t tell me… the rhino horn and tiger bone don’t work, but the other stuff does, right?
The only thing that works for my aches and pains is Obeah, but Cayman made it illegal so that these quacks can prosper.
Same thing they said about cannabis. Remember at one point in time it had no medicinal value.
this whole set-up and use of public funds smells fishy to me.
maybe an audit will reveal more.
That’ll be the cod liver oil.
yawn…just like the bush doctor who rings up the radio stations claiming to have the cure for aids and covid but won’t reveal his ingredients…
why this is being state funded is beyond belief….
why is this not being run in the private sector where people use it as much as they want…
Did the old timers require a physician to prescribe and advise on usage of “Bush medicine”? Don’t think so since they had the sense to use it where necessary and appropriately. The common and rare types of sense are sadly lacking in people today, we’ve been left without sense in our quest for money.
A little research and asking questions on unplugged blogs about natural remedies goes a long way. You’ll find that many people suffering from common ailments have successfully healed themselves with natural products and with fewer to no side effects. Besides who needs a dispensary for natural plant plant products when you can buy in bulk and fill your own capsules, and make your own concoctions, decoctions, tinctures and extracts.
Congratulations and thank you to all who made it possible!!
All power to Dr. Ebanks for offering complementary medical solutions.
Homeopathy on the other hand is pure, unmitigated woo, sold to those who are gullible, conspiracists or just plain dumb as rocks. It is something that both Prince Charles and Jeremy Corbyn share as an interest for example. Nuff said.
I want my THC!
‘It takes a very holistic approach towards healing, by supporting the body’s own natural effort in achieving a balanced state of positive energy’….??????
pure and utter drivel.
cannot believe taxpayers money is being used for something like this. why can’t she/they operate in the private sector where there is plenty of ample opptortunity to scam people…and not at the taxpayers expense.
yep…just another day in wonderland….zzzz.
if these alternatives actually worked they would have been bought up by pharmacutical companies years ago.
believe in science ..not quackery.
Ill stick to my herb(s)
Lol
The ignorance being displayed on this post is characteristic of the prejudice and racism that is thrown at Caymanians who attempt to make their way in this twisted society. If she was a white English doctor none of you would have a thing to say. Cayman is really lost. They have taken right over.
Utter drivel. Naturopathy is pseudoscience nonsense. Check out the College of Naturopathic Medicine that Dr Ebanks gained her diploma. Homeopathy is taught as well. So it wouldn’t matter the race, colour or creed of anyone who has a diploma in it. Do a bit of research. The rest of Dr Ebanks qualifications, however, are excellent.
Stop spewing nonsense. You have no idea what you are talking about. Naturopathy is practiced in every world region.
According to recent surveys in France, an astounding 40% of the
French public have used homeopathic medicines, and 39% of French
physicians have prescribed them. At least six French medical schools
offer courses leading to a degree in homeopathy, and homeopathy is
taught in all pharmacy schools and in four veterinary schools.
Around 40 percent of British, French and Dutch doctors use
homeopathy, and one in five German doctors do. Other surveys indicate
that 25 to 56 percent of Belgian, French, British, Dutch and Danish
people use homeopathy, in addition to significant numbers of people in
Sweden, Italy, India, Mexico, South America and the former Soviet
Union.
In Australia 57 percent of the population now use some form
ofalternative medicine.
Some US hospitals employ “alternative” therapies in post surgical care. .
https://matadornetwork.com/read/alternative-complementary-medicine-europe/
Unlike Big Pharma who are plugging some drugs which have more side risks than taking nothing at all. The majority of our common modern medicines originated from plant and animals. It’s only with the advent of bioengineering and gene editing have we begun to develop custom medicines and techniques for tackling the worse of human diseases and afflictions.
“Big Pharma”… you don’t think the people selling these “alternative medicines” don’t also have a financial incentive for doing so?
Do a little research in 2021 where BigPharma controls mainstream media?
I am glad I speak 4 languages fluently- Spanish, French, German and English; I can do more than little research elsewhere , but Google.
7:26 is right! The level of ignorance on this rick is mind boggling! It is unbelievable what people write in the comments.
‘Diploma in Naturopathy’. Oh dear, the final step before homeopathy and quackery. Naturopathy, basically eat less, move more, cut the keg and get more sleep. Debunked as pseudoscience. I would have left that off my resume.
Great! A herbal dispensary!
Better not tell Dr Lee
Alternative medicine? This kind of voodoo witch doctor medicine should be discouraged. A healthy lifestyle, good eating, exercise, yes of course. But herbal and homeopathic ‘cures’, and the likes are just a way of getting money from the vulnerable and playing on their silly superstitions about real scientific medicine and cures. It’s this sort of alternative medicine and quack practioners that feed the covid and anti-vax conspiracies.
As opposed to pharmaceutical companies that make billions with a medication for every symptom by preying on the vulnerable and the sick? They don’t promote a healthy lifestyle at all, they simply say ‘pay money for our drug that suppresses the symptoms’ then go back to doing what you were doing so the cycle can continue.
Don’t take this as defending treating severe illness with mango leaves and thinking its curing anything. I am more focusing on you using money making schemes as a justification for your stance. Modern day medicine is nothing but a money making scheme to prey on the unhealthy. Big Pharma pays doctors to promote and prescribe their drugs. Think about that. How can someone have your best interest in mind if they are intending to get a cut from the sales of a drug?
The only way to be healthy is consuming whole foods, No processed garbage products, no processed sugar and regular excercise. I don’t run to drugs to hide any symptoms because I focus on preventative medicine which is a whole food diet. If it didn’t directly from a tree or from the earth, I don’t consume it. As someone who does this I can tell you I don’t need those cold and flu suppressants because I’ve gotten a cold maybe twice in the last 5 years and the sniffles is all its ever been.
You may not like alternative medicine, but there is something to be learned from every point of view. They believe in the natural way of doing things, I would agree maybe a bit too much. But to completely block them out, while ignoring the promoting of a healthy lifestyle to prevent illness as opposed to managing illness is silly in my opinion.
Well said, thank you.
BigPharma treats symptoms, holistic medicine addressed the causes of symptoms.
Evere wondered why Cancer always comes back?
Are you aware that mainstream medicine can only address acute conditions but has nothing to offer for chronic, often debilitating conditions? You are on your own with neurological, autoimmune, autonomic, etc. conditions. Big Pharma can offer you nothing.
By the way, find YT video about 17 yo boy who suffered more than 10 seizures per day, was taking more than 20 pills and already had 1-2 brain surgeries. Guess how he got cured? QiGong.
Here is the video. Qigong for Epileptic Seizures
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MerE0BXoq5E
Will they be dispensing cannabis vapes?
someone is starting to see the bigger picture
Agree, and it’s about time. Health care shouldn’t be either/or, but a complete treatment.
Whomever your primary health care provider is, they should also be able to dovetail with alternative medicine. Why shouldn’t HSA also make a ton of money from medical ganja and CBD oils?
But they’re not it’s the middleman distributor/importer that is. That’s why the price for these natural products is so high, no pun intended😐
Free the herb!
And natural psychedelics!
Are they going to bring in any witch doctors from Africa along with a variety of their potions?