Traditional Cambodian medicine

This situation is reflected in many developing countries and, in part for this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) is promoting the use and preservation of knowledge of several traditional medicines in many of these areas across the globe, including Cambodia.

Four forms of therapy are delivered by medical and para-medical personnel: spirit offerings, dermabrasion, maintaining hot-cold balance, and herbal medicines.

These foreign frameworks and practices were mixed with local beliefs and superstitions to create the foundations of TKM.

Jayavarman VII, who reigned c.1181–1218, ordered the construction of 102 hospitals ('halls devoid of disease' or arogyasala) throughout his realm.

An inscription in Sai Fong has become the most renowned quote of King Jayavarman VII: "Diseases of the people make him more painful than his own illness.

Inside the hospital chapels, ground or smashed traditional herbal medicines extracted from plant trunks, roots and leaves were mixed with purified water.

The gradual decline of the Angkorian Empire and the religious shifts to Theravada Buddhism appears to have affected the original medical culture greatly.

The French colonial era is also thought to have affected and prevented the rise of the ancient Khmer medical tradition.

Unlike India for example, where dialogue and knowledge exchange between initial colonialists and Indian doctors took place, the colonial presence beginning with the 18th century in Cambodia was almost instantaneous and the French demanded and relied upon Western medicine from the very start, abolishing the local Cambodian medical traditions altogether.

Kru pet hermits have always been glorified and venerated in the Khmer culture for their kindness of saving human and animal lives.

Statues were made to pay respect to kru pet, like the hermit sculpture on Phnom Santuk mountain, and hermitages or temples dedicated to kru pet were built such as Maha Rusey (Khmer: មហាឫសី) hermitage on Phnom Da mountain.

In 1983, production of selected medicines began at the research center and a number of books on healing plants have been published.

[15] The regulatory requirements for manufacturing or safety assessment, and the control mechanisms established to ensure compliance, come under the Department of Drugs and Food.