Family doctors appreciate herbal medicines

Most GPs appreciate herbal medicines

13/04/2011

For the past seven years, doctors in Germany have been allowed, with a few exceptions, not to prescribe any herbal medicines for prescription. At the same time, phytopharmaceuticals are enjoying a growing appreciation, especially in the GP surgeries. This is by no means a paradox. Ferdinand M. Gerlach, Director of the University Institute of General Practice in Frankfurt in Munich: In the „typical“ Patients of the family doctor - these are mainly older people, often with several complaints - Phytopharmaceuticals have a special status because of their good compatibility. The proportion of people using natural remedies increased from 52 per cent to 72 per cent between 1970 and 2020.

Naturopathic medicine is also increasingly being respected by physicians, reported Prof. Gerlach. The numbers are convincing:

- The number of physicians with the additional name „Naturopathy“ (Phytotherapy is part of this training) has more than tripled in 15 years from 5,000 to 15,296.

- In a survey of 1,027 primary care physicians, more than half of them reported using phytotherapy in practice. 11 percent were negative for complementary medicine and only 3 percent very negative for family doctors.

- According to a further study on the basis of 101,500 general practitioners, 93 percent of them are positive for phytotherapy, only 7 percent can do without them.

Prof. Gerlach advocates an intensification of research into drugs in the „real world“, in the family doctor's office. More than 90 percent of people are cared for here, and unlike in hospitals, patients are often patients with chronic diseases. For example, 56 percent of over-70s need five or more medications at the same time.

The use of phytopharmaceuticals could reduce the risk of adverse drug effects and interactions and strengthen adherence to therapy and the trusting doctor-patient relationship, said the Frankfurt Chair, who is also the President of the German Society of General Medicine and Family Medicine (DEGAM). (KFN 05/2011)

Picture: birgitH