They both have their place and they should each be used appropriately. This is the Way that our School follows (The Daoist Way).
When is it a good time to rely on Doctors to resolve your health issues? If you are an advanced Qigong practitioner, rarely or never.
The Qigong Instructor is there to help people to learn how to help themselves. Sure, in an ideal world it would be easy and perfect if you went to the doctor each time you had an ailment and the doctor gave you a magic pill and the issue went away or in the case of hands-on energy healing the patient lies down and hopes for a miraculous healing (which is not realistic to rely on all the time). Of course this can happen but it is not a magic pill. Magic pills don't exist. And this includes Qigong practice.
This is why one should first rely on themselves to micro-manage their day-to-day well-being. This is the first line of defense from negative factors affecting one's health and the beauty of this is that health issues are eliminated when they are manifested in the initial stages. This is where the magic in this approach is.
Why allow a tree to reach the sky, when it can be easily removed from the soil when it is merely a seedling? A lot of the time people cannot see the massive tree growing right in front of them and it's extensive root systems taking hold underground. Sometimes when it's windy it may turn heads as branches get thrown on the ground as a warning of more turbulent storms to come. An individual who has developed their sensitivity (specifically, Qi sensitivity) can see the tree that is growing, can sense the roots taking hold, and knows what to do about it.
Once the issue has become large enough one needs to see a doctor to get help. By this point there may be no other choice than to get treatment, and some treatments cause side effects, are very invasive and damaging in themselves. And of course, there are certain things that cannot be prevented such as illnesses that are inherited or that one is born with and also sometimes injuries and accidents/unexpected things that happen. This is where the intervention from a doctor is most efficient. Not to mention that we need to have a sane understanding our own understanding and capabilities and thus know when an issue is beyond our scope of knowledge to rectify by ourselves.
If we all maintain our own health and rely less on getting healed by someone else it would create a more harmonious society and it would lessen the load and generate less friction for everyone. By helping yourself you also help others. If you lead by example, others can learn how to keep themselves happy and healthy too.
The Qigong Instructor is like a doctor in a way because they are looking at the person and using their sensitivity to figure out how to best help the person. The unique feature here as compared to purely getting a treatment is that both the instructor and the student are engaged in practice together doing the exercises and both playing a role in creating more harmony. The Instructor is playing a more active role than the student but the student is not only getting benefit from the practice but also learning and growing in the process. The student goes home and continues their practice daily, comes back to the class and learns more. Over time, the student becomes more and more experienced and this helps the instructor to help the student help him/herself. This also helps others because each of us can influence others with our positive state. that grows exponentially as more and more people learn to do this.
This is the Way that our School Follows.