by Anh Nguyen
Learning the origins of Vietnamese medicine and the involvement of Western medicine, the mindset of Vietnamese people has shaken due to the effectiveness and the belief of Western medical treatment. Although the study of Western medicine in Vietnam has been well-developed to this day, there are still people who believe the mythical effect of Vietnamese traditional medicine.
The mindset of Vietnamese people believing in foreign medicine:
The biggest psychological obstacle the medical field has to face is people’s believing in foreign medicine more than their own medicine product. Even though there are many medical academies in Vietnam, the very well-known Pasteur Academy, Vietnamese people are still having disbelief towards the “quality” of their own product, even though the process and ingredients to create the medicine is almost the same as foreign medicine. The cost for foreign medicine is high, and not everyone could afford to pay those “expensive” medicines weekly or monthly. Despite the heavy price of foreign medicine in Vietnam, the people still accept and pay for it. This bias belief on foreign medicine started when Vietnam fell into a difficult time, where medicine was created through “handmade”, lack of transparency on components of medicine, and the lack of research that caused people doubting the quality by just looking through the poor packaging design. Foreign products or medicine always seem to be more professional with their packaging and advanced technologies with rigorous standards.
In Vietnamese medical market, the manufacture of Vietnamese medicine brand is still having some “obstacles.” For example, the component for creating medicine has to be imported from other countries; they could not control the cost and quality of those ingredients to achieve the same effectiveness as the foreign medicine. Another “obstacle” that the medical market has to face is that the counterfeit medicine could not be held in control, which caused people to doubt if they bought the real medicine or not. Despite the issues that Vietnamese medical field has to face, they are looking for the “golden opportunity” to prove Vietnamese people that their medicine is safe to use. The only way to “persuade” Vietnamese people is the decreasing rate of economy and low level of consumption. This golden opportunity will help Vietnamese medical field to have quality competing, enhancing, and improving their medicine products so that Vietnamese people can believe and use them without any doubts.
The people who believe and follow Vietnamese traditional medicine:
Following Vietnamese traditional medicine in today's society has been seen as “old-fashioned” and “inefficient” compared to Western medicine. However, some people are still believing in the effectiveness of their own traditional medicine, regardless of scientific disapproval.
Herbal medicine in Vietnam has been used as a long-term detoxification for the body and helps to balance the people’s eating diet. Vietnamese traditional medicine might not have the same effectiveness as foreign medicine, but long-term usage would give out a significant change in their health. Additionally, some people have allergic reactions towards foreign medicine due to some chemical components, so they sought other kinds of treatments that could help them maintain their healthy life and prevent cancers in the future.
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