THE WHO AND THE CHILEAN MINISTRY OF HEALTH
In 2002, the World Health Organization, also known as WHO (sorry to dissapoint, I won’t be writing about the rock band), developed a study to gather information about the global use and range of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). In this study is stated that up to 71% of the population in Chile are using any form of CAM. This makes Chile as the leading American country using any type of CAM, second place being Canada (70%); meanwhile the rest of the countries do not get over 50%. The Chilean Ministry of Health recognizes that the CAMs that have a bigger offer in the country are Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Acupuncture, Floral Therapy, Reiki and Aromatherapy. Actually, Chile is showing an awesome development regarding Medical Integration, with some laws and regulations already being applied.
Nowadays it’s assumed that all forms of Medicine are being complemented between each other, so in the future we will speak normally about Integrative Medicine
DECREE NO. 42
Since 2005, the Chilean Government validated the Decree No. 42, whose title is: Regulation for the practice of Alternative Medical therapies as Health Promoting Professions. The objective of said Decree is to set some rules in order to keep the quality and safety of the therapies that are offered to the population, and for the people to have access to the best professionals. In a particular level, the Chilean Ministry of Health officially recognize Acupuncture, Homeopathy, and Naturopathy as health assistance occupations. Despite these important achievements, there is still a lot of work to be done. There are several therapies that need regulation, and this will definitively lead to a bigger trust from the population and will reduce scammers.
DATA ABOUT REIKI IN CHILE
In 2012, the Chilean Subsecretary of Public Health provides the Study about knowledge, use, and level of satisfaction of the population regarding CAM. Thanks to this study, we know that the most used alternative and complementary therapies used by the population are: Yoga, Phytotherapy, and Homeopathy. Reiki is in the fourth place, with a global 9% of use and practice (Graphic No.1).
Reiki is the most used therapy along the third economic group, this means, the middle class, with a practice for up to 28% of the population. It’s also a therapy that has a preference for people with college education, and 2 out of 3 users are women (66.7%). Therapies like Reiki, Biomagnetism, and Floral Therapy are the ones that are mainly developed in the therapist’s house, with more than 30% of the total, and the hospitals are at the end of this list. This might make us think that the list of Hospitals that provide Reiki is short. But we must remember that we are talking about the leading country in all the American Continent, therefore the list is considerable.
HOSPITALS IN CHILE THAT PROVIDE REIKI
I will present an actual review of the hospitals that directly or indirectly offer Reiki therapy. As in all the previous articles from the Reiki in Hospitals category, I only mention the institutions where I found a quality link as reference.
SANTIAGO
The Indisa Clinic has more than a decade working on the integration of medicine, using technologic innovation along with alternative therapies, such as Reiki.
The Santa María Clinic also uses complementary therapies, with the objective of relaxing the patient and decreasing pain.At the diarioUchile (radio from the University of Chile) is a very interesting article, published in 2014, where 4 active participants of the Integration of Medicine expose an achievement or plan of action. One of these is adding Reiki and other complementary and alternative therapies at Roberto del Rio Hospital.
Félix Bulnes Hospital displays a big set of options. They have their own Integrative Medicine Unit, where up to 10 complementary therapies are being offered, as well as the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
VALPARAÍSO
In this city, Gustavo Fricke, San Martín of Quillota, and La Ligua hospitals display a Complementary Medicine Unit.
REST OF THE COUNTRY
There are much more hospitals that have Complementary Medicine Units, or at least a volunteer program that offers Reiki to their patients.The list includes public and private institutions, and some examples are:
- San Fernando Hospital
- Copiapó Hospital
- Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins Regional Hospital,
- Arica Hospital
- Achao Hospital
- Iquique Hospital
CONCLUSION
Following the pace determined by the WHO regarding the integration of Medicine, Chile is the leading country in the American continent and also a global benchmark. From the totality of people that receive Reiki, the higher percentage use it in order to deal with psychic struggles (stress, anxiety), and a lesser percentage use it as an addition in the treatment of somatic diseases. This lets us think of Reiki as a versatile self-knowledge and energy-flow-improvement tool, that enhances our health.
Further reading:
- Thesis from Angélica Aponte: Alternative Therapies in the Public Health Service
- University of Talca study about CAM (2010)