Swiss take an holistic approach

SWITZERLAND BECAME the first country in Europe to enshrine complementary medicine into its constitution when more than 67 per cent of national voters opted in favour of a new constitutional article on complementary medicine last week.

That result, which followed a public campaign, will now make it more likely that certain complementary therapies will be re-instated into the basic health insurance scheme available to all Swiss citizens.

In Switzerland, a new constitutional article can be proposed to the Swiss parliament if it is supported by 100,000 signatures gathered within 18 months.

In this case, the parliament rejected the initial proposal on complementary medicine and put forward its own counterproposal on complementary medicine which was then put to a vote.

A majority of citizens in all cantons voted in favour of adopting this new constitutional article. Historically, counter-proposals have been three times more likely to be voted in by the public than original popular proposals.


One of the aspirations of the pro-complementary therapy lobby group is that professorships of complementary medicine will now be created in Swiss universities.

To read the entire article visit