R

ecent reports of the death of a chiropractic patient have raised questions about the safety of the drug-free therapy, which was introduced to the country in 2000.

'€œMany Indonesians underwent chiropractic therapy in other countries, like Singapore, the US, and Australia before 2000, at which point Indonesia started to acknowledge it,'€ said Tinah Tan, one of Indonesia'€™s first chiropractic therapists and a representative of the Indonesian Chiropractic Association (Perchirindo), recently.

Tinah added that at that time, many patients suffering from bone and nerve abnormalities chose chiropractic as complementary therapy to their medical treatment.

Tina, who is also a doctor, explained that in chiropractic therapy, therapists '€” better known as chiropractors '€” helped the patients to heal their nerve and spinal problems by applying manual techniques, like joint adjustment and/or manipulation.

Tina stressed that, before the therapy, chiropractors had to examine and diagnose the patients'€™ problems precisely, as well as requiring them to bring medical records, like x-ray results.

Tina emphasized that in Indonesia, people could not easily become chiropractors as they must be licensed as physicians first before undergoing further training to become chiropractic therapists. Then, they must acquire operational licenses from Perchirindo before they are able to practice the therapy.

In Jakarta, according to Tina, chiropractor candidates should undergo chiropractic training for three semesters or 1,800 hours in a Biomechanical Medicine Conversion Course (BMCC).

Tina, however, admitted that chiropractic had yet to be acknowledged in medical science in Indonesia. Chiropractic therapy is instead recognized as an alternative or traditional therapy.

Slamet Budiarto from the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) concurred with Tina saying that doctors in Indonesia tended not to recommend chiropractic therapy as it was not recognized in medical science, unlike the orthopedic branch of medicine.
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'€œMany Indonesians underwent chiropractic therapy in other countries, like Singapore, the US, and Australia before 2000, at which point Indonesia started to acknowledge it.'€

Chiropractic therapy has been in the spotlight recently because of the death of a patient, Allya Siska Nadya, in August last year.

Allya died on Aug. 7, a day after she had two sessions of chiropractic therapy at the Chiropractic First clinic in Pondok Indah Mall, South Jakarta. The Jakarta Police have since discovered that neither the clinic nor its chiropractors possessed operational licenses.

The police announced recently that they had named US chiropractor Randall Cafferty and Malaysian national Khan Wain Min '€” owner of the Chiropractic First chain of clinics that employed Cafferty '€” suspects in the alleged malpractice case that led to Allya'€™s death.

Responding to the issue, Slamet strongly criticized Jakarta'€™s Health Agency for carelessly monitoring such practices. He questioned the agency'€™s policies in supervising the licenses of therapists and clinics offering alternative health treatments.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman from Chiropractic First, Tabitha, offered condolences to Allya'€™s family on their loss. She said Chiropractic First was working with the police to investigate the case, particularly in finding Cafferty, the chiropractor who handled Allya'€™s problems.

She added that the management did not know Cafferty'€™s current whereabouts. She said that in November last year, Cafferty had resigned from Chiropractic First, which has seven clinics in the capital.

Regarding the licenses, Tabitha said the company did hold operational licenses for some of its clinics and therapists, while licenses for the other clinics and therapists were being processed.

Separately, a chiropractic patient, Inve Korianto, told The Jakarta Post about his experience in undergoing the treatment.

He said that seeking relief from compressed nerves; he was tempted by an offer from a chiropractic clinic in a mall in South Jakarta. He said that he paid Rp 15 million (US$1,080) for 36 therapy sessions.

According to him, to ease the pain, the chiropractor conducted some '€œextreme'€ procedures on his spine. Nonetheless, he said that he gained slight improvement from the therapy as he no longer felt so much pain.

'€œThus, I was shocked to hear of Allya'€™s case, considering my own experience. I had an improvement after having similar treatments, although it was not significant,'€ said Inve, adding that his mother and some of his friends had also undergone chiropractic therapy.

Regarding his mother'€™s case, he said she had experienced significant improvement after the therapy.

Inve added that he, however, would not choose chiropractic therapy again due to its high cost and extreme measures.