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Turkey legalizes alternative medicine

The Turkish government has paved the way for hospitals to use treatments dating back to Seljuk and Ottoman times, including bloodsucking leeches and scar-healing flies.
A psoriasis patient displays his hands as he relaxes in a hot spa pool as part of his treatment in Kangal, 105 kilometers (65 miles) south of the central Anatolian city of Sivas August 8, 2009. The treatment is believed to heal Psoriasis, a chronic skin disease which affects the joints and skins. Garra rufa obtusa, also known as "doctor fish" which live in mineral-rich hot spa pools, is used in the treatment as they nibble away the diseased skin. The mineral-rich water is then believed to aid in the healing
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“Don’t be late, special herbal solutions are here for you … We have leeches sucking polluted blood, flies healing scars, music and hypnotic methods curing mental patients.” This is not a joke. The Turkish government’s health care transformation program continues to come up with brand-new services.

As in almost every realm in Turkey, major changes are underway also in the health care sector. The idea that "alternative medicine is nothing but witchcraft and charlatanism” is now a thing of the past. In the coming days, Turkish hospitals and other health care facilities will seek to attract patients with marketing materials that would be no different from the one above.

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