Ayurveda: A cure for all ills

The hkaling touchIt is hard to pick up a newspaper these days without reading some item about the renewed interest shown by the Government of India, by State governments, by Indian institutes, or by foreign agencies on the subject of Ayurveda ("science of life") - India's traditional system of medicine. It was recently reported that WHO (World Health Organization) would assist research at the Ayurvedic Trust Hospital in Coimbatore to evaluate claims by Ayurvedic practitioners (vaids) that they have a cure for different kinds of rheumatism. The five-year study, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research, will cover three hundred cases.Other research concerns an Ayurvedic contraceptive made from veppenna (neem oil) and various Ayurvedic drugs and treatments for a wide variety of ailments, including heart, cancer and high blood pressure cases. Early this year a National Institute of Ayurveda was established at Jaipur, Ayurvedic hospital was completed in Patiala (Punjab), and a new, compact Ayurvedic medical kit was developed in Karnataka.Medicine,for the massesThe contribution of Ayurveda has provided relief for suffering Indians for the past 3,000 years and still ministers to the health needs of the overwhelming majority of Indians beyond the reach of modern medicine. There is an urgent need for a new breed of doctors to serve the villagers. And it may be that the mid, given a minimal amount of training and basic health equipment and supplies, could be India's answer to China's much-publicized "bare-foot doctors".More Western-style doctors is not what India needs or can afford. Most of the 150,000 modern doctors in India today refuse to serve outside cities and large towns. About 80 per cent of them minister to about 20 per cent of the people while a mere 20 per cent bear the burden of caring for the other 80 per cent of the population. Earlier, planners felt that the simple pressure of the increasing number of doctors would gradually force health service to spread outward into rural areas. It never happened. The maldistribution of doctors still remains a major problem today.An upgraded "Ayurvedic doctor" could be one solution. But who is the Ayurvedic doctor? Is he a real physician, a traditional healer who gets results? Or is he a witch doctor, a quack taking advantage of the ignorance and superstitions of the poor? True, there are some charlatans among them, but there are many who are well-trained and who perform simple health services for the villagers for whom there is no alternative. There are 400,000 vaids in India, with varying degrees of training, skill and scruples.Ayurveda treats a wide range of acute and chronic ailments, including diseases of the digestive system (amoebic dysentery, cirrhosis of the liver, duodenal ulcer, gastritis, intestinal worms, infantile diarrhoea, etc.); diseases of the respiratory system (bronchial asthma, tuberculosis, bronchitis, etc.), anaemia, high blood pressure, jaundice, urinary tract diseases, insomnia, influenza, diabetes, gout, rheumatism, sterility, arthritis, epilepsy, schizophrenia, and greying hair.The powder from a pulverized conch shell is mixed with hot water for colic pain. For dysentery, the Kutaja plant bark in powdered form (one teaspoonful) is applied three times daily. Fried things and spicy foods are avoided and curds and rice recommended. For the duodenal ulcer, there is ghee and castor oil with warm milk taken on an empty stomach. This helps to relieve anxiety and tension. Various jewels- powdered and mixed with other mineral and animal products-are also used to treat a wide variety of illnesses.The Ayurvedic doctor must at the same time be competent enough to recognize the more serious illnesses requiring modern hospital care.Modern medicine did not spring-fully-grown-in the 19th century alongside the industrial revolution. Western medicine has its roots in the medical systems of ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, and Arabia-all influenced by the Indian Ayurvedic system. Ayurveda survives today in a shadowy form, but it may be called back into the mainstream of history to play a major role in the extension of health services to hundreds of millions of men, women and children still trapped in what Gandhi called "grinding pauperism".The new breed of community doctor must be of the village, even though much of his training (or re-training), equipment and supplies may have to come from the outside, through the efforts of the Government of India, and the state governments, working with UN agencies.Tomorrows doctor must be one whose method remains scientific but whose motivation is social. Can this be done by pushing unmotivated allopaths into the countryside, particularly when they resist transplantation? The vaid is already there, at the grass roots level.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Apr 11, 2015 13:33 IST--- ENDS ---

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Ayurveda: A cure for all ills

The contribution of Ayurveda has provided relief for suffering Indians for the past 3,000 years and still ministers to the health needs of the overwhelming majority of Indians beyond the reach of modern medicine.

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