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Updated December 21, 2010 12:16:11

Many people would squirm at the thought of deliberately inviting slimy leeches to suck blood from their bodies. however, in a remote village in Indonesia, there’s often a queue outside the house of a leech therapist. In Australia, leeches are being used more frequently in hospitals following reconstructive surgery.Presenter: Sajithra NithiSpeakers: Muhyidin, leech therapist; Rujinto Warno Sugito and Ratna Budianti, leech therapy patients; Dr Galih Akbar, Mitra Medika clinic in Yogyakarta; Katie Laing, Clinical Nurse Educator at Liverpool Hospital in Sydney

NITHI: they take the brunt of many jokes about natural remedies, but leeches are becoming increasingly popular in medicine.and in Indonesia it is attracting people to the profession.Muhyidin is a former construction worker – turned leech therapist. he lives in the rural town of Bantul in Indonesia. many people suffering from conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and chronic migraine symptoms, visit Muhyidin for treatment. he explains how he works. MUHYIDIN: we are looking for clogged spots relating to the blood circulation in someone’s body. at first I was not an expert in this, but I studied the human anatomy and learnt more about blood circulation. moreover, the leeches know where they need to bite because they have a very sharp instinct.NITHI: One of his patients is 51-year-old Rujinto Warno Sugito, who has problems walking. he says he’s tired of taking medicine. RUJINTO WARNO SUGITO: I have been sick for a long time and I want to stop taking medicine all the time. If I go to the hospital, they give me drugs and injections which I must take. but it’s different here. In here I only need to deal with these leeches.NITHI: Muhyidin began administering leech therapy in 2002. he had a bad wound on his leg and was told that, being a diabetic, he could lose his limb. but hearing that leeches could heal his leg, Muhyidin tried the treatment. he says leeches saved his leg.Another person seeking Muhidin’s help is Ratna Budianti, who suffers from headaches and also hopes leech therapy can help her improve her chances of conceiving a child. RATNA BUDIANTI: at first it was a little bit scary for me and I couldn’t watch. it hurts like when bitten by an ant.NITHI: While Muhyidin claims he’s simply providing an alternative option to modern medicine, some more traditional practitioners are wary of leech therapy. Dr Galih Akbar, from the Mitra Medika clinic in Yogyakarta, says there’s a lack of credible studies on the subject.GALIH AKBAR: I think it is a high-risk treatment. first of all, we don’t know for sure what the illness of the patient is and what is causing it. when patients go for leech therapy, they don’t know why they are sick. they have all kinds of health complaints, and they immediately get the leech therapy regardless. “NITHI: Leeches work in two ways. first, by latching on and drawing out blood, and that relieves pressure. second, their saliva contains chemicals that dilate the blood vessels, which increases blood flow, and anti-coagulants in the saliva prevent blood from clotting and there are anti-inflammatories as well. and it’s not just in rural Indonesia that leeches are used. at the Liverpool Hospital in Sydney, Australia, leeches are used more often than you would think.KATIE LAING: the main thing that we use them for here is after reconstructive surgery, so when a patient’s been in a big trauma or they’ve lost a limb or lost a finger and we’ve reattached it, we use the leeches to help re-establish the blood flow in that body part, and that’s solely what we use them for.NITHI: That’s Katie Laing, who is a Clinical Nurse Educator at the hospital. and she says the use of leeches is increasing. LAING: here at Liverpool we actually use them about six to eight times a year. but we actually supply a lot of other hospitals so the leeches are always going somewhere. they go somewhere nearly every week. Every 12 months, we actually end up supplying more and more hospitals.NITHI: Nurse Laing says just about any leech can be used for treatment, but they have to be administered by a trained leech therapist. LAING: There needs to be some training behind it because there can be some side effects, if you don’t actually use them correctly, if you don’t put the patients on the correct medication while the leeches are actually sucking, there can be some side effects and some problems with infection.NITHI: but Katie Laing says leeches have more potential benefits than we realise.LAING: There’s quite a lot of research going in to the components in their saliva. and they actually think that they’ll potentially be able to use some components in their saliva to treat things like osteoarthritis, blood clotting, any type of inflammation.NITHI: several studies are being carried out into leeches and their medicinal benefits.