PITAHC

Also known as: PITAHC · Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Medicine · GOCC under the Department of Health

Medicine

Definition

The Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) is a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) under the Department of Health (DOH) in the Philippines, established under the Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act (TAMA) of 1997 (Republic Act No. 8423). PITAHC is mandated to regulate, research, promote, and integrate traditional, complementary, and alternative health care modalities into the national healthcare system, ensuring standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. (PITAHC)

Identities

Source Type	Identity
Wikipedia	Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care
Wikidata	Q20050860
DBpedia	N/A
ProductOntology	N/A
Wiktionary	N/A
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)	Traditional medicine — Law and legislation — Philippines
MeSH	N/A
NCBI Taxonomy	N/A
AGROVOC	N/A
Google Scholar	PITAHC traditional alternative medicine DOH Philippines
ConceptNet	N/A
OpenCyc	N/A

Also Known As

PITAHC
Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Medicine
GOCC under the Department of Health

Examples and Analogies

Certification of Hilot Practitioners: Establishing competency assessments and a code of ethics to officially license professional wellness masseurs (manghihilot). (PITAHC)
Accredited Herbal Manufacturing Plants: Overseeing state-funded pharmaceutical facilities that produce standardized tablets from approved medicinal plants like lagundi.

Usage Scenarios

1. Registering an Alternative Clinic

A healthcare center applies for official PITAHC accreditation to offer certified acupuncture therapies to patients.

2. Scientific Validation of Local Herbs

Researchers secure a government research grant from PITAHC to conduct preclinical trials on native plants for pain relief. (PITAHC)

Strategies

Verify if a traditional or alternative medicine clinic is officially accredited by PITAHC before receiving specialized treatments.
Consult the PITAHC registry for lists of certified practitioners in acupuncture, chiropractic, and wellness hilot.
Support local agricultural cooperatives that cultivate the ten DOH-approved medicinal plants for PITAHC-licensed manufacturers.

Security and Safety Measures

Report any unregistered practitioner making unverified cancer-cure or disease-reversal therapeutic claims to PITAHC.
Ensure that traditional wellness treatments (like hilot) are not used to treat fractures, dislocations, or severe acute infections.
Avoid purchasing unregulated herbal preparations that lack FDA Certificate of Product Registration (CPR) numbers.

Historical Context

Before 1997, traditional healers in the Philippines operated in a legal vacuum, and herbal medicines were largely unregulated. The passage of Republic Act No. 8423 in 1997 created PITAHC to bridge the gap between traditional folk wisdom and modern scientific validation. The institute established standard guidelines for modalities like acupuncture, hilot, homeopathy, and chiropractic, while managing state-owned herbal processing plants in Davao, Cotabato, and Tacloban. (PITAHC)

Challenges and Controversies

Underfunding for Clinical Trials

PITAHC faces resource constraints that slow down the clinical validation and commercialization of promising indigenous medicinal plants.

Informal Practitioner Compliance

A vast majority of traditional folk healers (like albularyo and rural bone-setters) continue to practice informally without PITAHC certification, posing safety monitoring challenges.