Chinese Medicine in Malaysia After Decolonization: Segregation and Unequal Access

Abstract

Chinese medicine has received momentum in Malaysia since the beginning of the twenty-first century when the Traditional and Complementary Medicine Division was established under the country’s Ministry of Health. The professionalization of the education and practice of Chinese medicine according to the Western line began at the same time. This paper argues that formalization has increasingly segregated the practice of Chinese medicine in Malaysia making it a middle-class private phenomenon. The bulk of the Malaysian population is excluded from accessing Chinese medicine education and healthcare services because of the nature of health financing and socioeconomic factors. Ethnic and sex preferences also prevail in education and healthcare delivery. The integration of Chinese medicine into the mainstream healthcare system in Malaysia produces health inequalities. This paper concludes that access and entry to the practice of Chinese medicine and receiving care under Chinese medicine in contemporary Malaysia are gendered, fabricated by ethnicity, and accessibility is largely restricted to the middle class.