One acupuncture standard in Ontario

To Honorable Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario,





Despite petitions from the Chinese Medicine practitioners for a single standard for acupuncture your government insisted to allow multiple standards for acupuncture in Ontario without broad based review of public opinions- that other regulated health professions can set their own standard with less training and without co-ordination from the professional College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of Ontario, and that they do not need the acupuncture license to perform acupuncture.





It must be understood that western medicine and Chinese medicine have different approaches in treating health problems and there is no direct correlation between the amount of western medicine training towards the equivalent amount of Chinese medicine training. Competence and skills take time to learn and acquire. Less training means less effectiveness, also less safety procedures.





By allowing multiple standards, the Liberal government:





1. Had ensured quality acupuncture services by acupuncturists but fails to emphasize competence and quality of acupuncture services by other regulated health professions





2. Fails to inform and protect the unknowing public from less effective and less safe acupuncture services.





3. Ensuring the public and insurance companies to spend more money on ineffective treatments





4. Violated the unwritten constitutional principle of respect for and protection of minorities, that acupuncture is not respected to be a profession; your decisions would increase availability of "acupuncture" by other health professionals but reduce the availability of health care services by traditional Chinese medicine acupuncturists in Ontario.





5. Set precedence for other provinces and other countries to set multiple standards for health care services without letting the public know what will affect them and despite of objections.





In view of the above adverse effects, for the benefits of the residents in Ontario we ask that:





The Liberal government to formulate a Traditional Chinese Medicine Act that incorporates one single standard for acupuncture to truly ensure high quality acupuncture services in Ontario.