Symptomatic treatment does not provide a fundamental solution.
The doctor prescribed painkillers as symptomatic therapy.
makeshift solution; stopgap measure; temporary expedient
Figurative extension of the medical sense; used for any temporary fix that does not address the root cause.
That policy is nothing more than a stopgap measure.
We need fundamental reform, not a makeshift solution.
The doctor administered symptomatic treatment for the fever.
This measure is nothing more than a stopgap, and the problem will likely recur.
Instead of making fundamental reforms, they just keep relying on stopgap measures.