Enduring or Fragile Cooperations: Complementary Medicine and Biomedicine in Healthcare Systems of Post-Soviet Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Complementary Medicine and Biomedicine in Healthcare Systems of Post-Soviet Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

This paper focuses on relations between biomedicine and various segments of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in socio-economic and political contexts of post-Soviet Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. While medical diversity was already present in Central Asia during Soviet times, the collapse of the Soviet Union has contributed to the further diversification of therapeutic options in this region. The author discusses changes in the of- ficial attitudes towards various non-biomedical forms of treatment, which reflect changing economic and political conditions. Initially, in the 1990s, the official support for traditional/folk medicine resulted mainly from the efforts of the newly independent states to gain legitimacy on the grounds of the cultural heritage of their titular nations. Such legitimisation is not needed anymore and, in effect, those CAM branches which are practised by healers, not biomedical doctors, have lost government backing. In this light, it seems that first attempts at cooperation between biomedical and complementary practitioners which had started in the 1990s turned out to be rather fragile. The boundary work, as the author’s research revealed, is directed towards delimitation of what is perceived as scientific from methods and practices unconfirmed by 'science.' However, it should be stressed that despite such tensions various complementary therapies, including spiritual healing, enjoy great popularity among patients, which is partly due to the weakness of healthcare systems in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The last part of the article addresses examples of cooperation between psychiatrists and healers in Kyrgyzstan, which proved to be fruitful in special circumstances.