Luxembourg
(ref 1)
Summary
In Luxembourg treatment is restricted to legally regulated personnel. CAM is not regulated.
Professionals and non-professionals
Legally regulated personnel
Only authorised / licensed medical professionals are allowed to carry out medical acts, and treatment, diagnosis and prevention are restricted to members of the medical corpus. The Code of Professional Ethics states that it is unethical for allopathic physicians to recommend to their patients therapies that are based on methods, which are not scientifically proven. Law does not regulate the practise of CAM, however the Ministry of Health has started to look into the field of CAM, and regulation is expected.
Not anybody may treat
Concerning practise of medicine, the law stipulates that persons without the required qualifications, who practise or participate in the diagnosing or treatment of real or supposed pathological disorders, can be prosecuted. Non-allopathic providers using complementary medicine are regularly prosecuted.
Reimbursement
Officially there is no public reimbursement of CAM, with the exception of homeopathy. However, if CAM is provided by regulated health care personnel and according to the legal rules in the field, complementary medicines are, unofficially reimbursed. There is no private insurance available for the coverage of CAM.
References
1. Reference where nothing else is noted: Maddalena S. The legal status of complementary medicines in Europe. Berne: Universitè de Neuchâtel, Stæmpfli Publisher Ltd. 1999. and Ministry of Health, Luxembourg, 01.12.04
