Person-centred healthcare and medicine paradigm: it’s time to clarify

The person-centred healthcare and medicine paradigm is in need of a strong theoretical framework not only to explain what it is but to prevent dangerous confusions of terminology or reductive oversimplification of its true scope: for example, it may be integrated into biomedicine, whereas person-centred medicine and Traditional Systems and Complementary and Alternative Medicine (TCAM) actually stand in the position of interacting with the conventional health system. Emphasis on person-centred care is also in line with World Health Organization (WHO) policy and the International Declarations of Beijing and Alma Ata. Interaction of TCAM and person-centred approach to all forms of medicine will ensure variety of therapy in tackling the intrinsically complex and multifaceted issue of health and healing. It will also prevent inestimable traditional knowledge from being lost.