AYUSH V/S ALLOPATHY
-In 2016, WHO published an eye-opening account of the incompetent health workforce of India based on the 2001 Indian census.
-According to WHO, the ideal doctor-patient ratio is 1:1000, whereas in India it is 1:1674.
-Furthermore, the report highlights the poor educational and medical background of the healthcare professionals in India
-In allopathy, only 31.4% of allopathic doctors are educated up to the secondary level, and around 57.3% among them did not have any medical eligibility.
-In urban areas, only 58.4% of allopathic doctors had a valid medical qualification, and this percentage was as low as 18.8% in the rural areas.
-According to the Medical Council of India (MCI), the total number of medical practitioners in India was 9.32 lakh (as of September 30, 2014).
-However, the number of AYUSH doctors practising traditional medicine in the country is around 6.8 lakh,
-Both, the WHO report (2016) and the Rural Health Statistics (2014-15) of the Ministry of Health Family Welfare, clearly depict a lack of adequate medical infrastructure in rural India.
-Even though a large population of the country resides in rural areas, there is a massive shortage of trained medical professionals in those regions.
-Almost 8% of the Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in rural India run without trained doctors.
-Also, the number of allopathic doctors in the rural PHCs was 11.9% short of the ideal requirement for the existing health infrastructure.
-These figures only depict the grim reality of rural India a vast rural populace has no access to the primary healthcare facilities such as treatment of minor injuries and ailments, immunization, and maternal and child healthcare. -Moreover, with little or no private investment in the rural healthcare sector, there is an urgent need to improve these issues in the system for the benefit of the rural populace.
-Here we have to understand about Ayush & Allopathy
-In 1995 Department of India Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy (ISM&H) was created by Government of India, under the ministry of Health and Family welfare.
-This was renamed as Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) in November, 2003 with a view to provide focused attention to development of Education and Research in Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy system.
-These are the six indigenous systems of medicine practiced in India
These systems are based on definite medical philosophies and represent a way of healthy living with established concepts on prevention of diseases and promotion of health.
-The basic approach of all these systems on health, disease and treatment are holistic.
-Because of this, there is a resurgence of interest on AYUSH systems.
-Yoga has now become the icon of global health and many countries have started integrating it in their health care delivery system.
-Similarly there is great curiosity to understand the principles and practice of Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Siddha and Unani especially due to growing challenges in medicine in Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs), Life style disorders, long term diseases, multi drug resistant diseases, emergence of new diseases etc.
AYUSH
-is an acronym for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy. These are the six indigenous systems of medicine practiced in India
Ayurveda
- is considered by many scholars to be the oldest healing science.
-In Sanskrit, Ayurveda means “The Science of Life.” Ayurvedic knowledge originated in India more than 5,000 years ago and is often called the “Mother of All Healing.”
-It stems from the ancient Vedic culture and was taught for many thousands of years in an oral tradition from accomplished masters to their disciples.
Yoga
-Derived from the Sankrit word ‘yuj’ which means ‘to unite or integrate’, yoga is a 5,000-year-old Indian body of knowledge.
-Yoga is all about harmonizing the body with the mind and breath through the means of various breathing exercises, yoga poses (asanas) and meditation.
Naturopathy
-is a form of alternative medicine that employs an array of pseudoscientific practices branded as “natural”, “non-invasive”, or promoting “self-healing”.
-The ideology and methods of naturopathy are based on vitalism and folk medicine, rather than evidence-based medicine.
Unani
-is the term for Perso-Arabic traditional medicine as practiced in Muslim culture in South Asia and modern day Central Asia. Unani medicine is pseudoscientific.
-The medical tradition of medieval Islam was introduced to India by the 13th century with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate and it took its own course of development during the Mughal Empire influenced by Indian medical teachings of Sushruta and Charaka.
-Alauddin Khalji had several eminent physicians (Hakims) at his royal courts.
-This royal patronage led to the development of Unani in India, and also the creation of Unani literature.
Siddha
-is an ancient Indian traditional treatment system which evolved in South India and is dated to the times of 3rd millennium BCE Indus Valley Civilization or earlier.
-According to ancient literature of Siddha, it is said that the system of this medicine originated from Hindu God Shiva who taught it to his consort Parvati.
-Parvati then passed it on to Nandi and Nandi taught about it to nine Devtas.
-Most Siddha medical practitioners are traditionally trained, usually in families and by gurus.
Homeopathy
-is a medical system based on the belief that the body can cure itself. Those who practice it use tiny amounts of natural substances, like plants and minerals. They believe these stimulate the healing process.
-Homeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was created in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. -Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a disease in healthy people would cure similar symptoms in sick people; this doctrine is called similia similibus curentur, or “like cures like”.
Allopathy
-Allopathic medicine, or allopathy, refers to science-based, modern medicine.
-The terms were coined in 1810 by the inventor of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann.
-It was originally used by 19th-century homeopaths as a derogatory term for heroic medicine, the traditional European medicine of the time and a precursor to modern medicine that did not rely on evidence of effectiveness. -Heroic medicine was based on the belief that disease is caused by imbalance among the four “humours” (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile) and sought to treat disease symptoms by correcting that imbalance, using “harsh and abusive” methods to induce symptoms seen as opposite to those of diseases rather than treating their underlying causes: disease was caused by an excess of one humour and thus would be treated with its “opposite”.
Now where is the controversy
-The Supreme Court of India and Indian Medical Association regard the practice of modern medicine by practitioners of Unani, Ayurveda and Siddha medicine as quackery.
-Practitioners of any medical system, including Unani medicine, are not authorized to practice medicine in India unless trained at a qualified medical institution, registered with the government, and listed as physicians annually in The Gazette of India.
-Referring to practitioners of all medical systems, the Supreme Court of India stated in 2018 that “unqualified, untrained quacks are posing a great risk to the entire society and playing with the lives of people without having the requisite training and education in the science from approved institutions”.
-The Karnataka state government, in a government order dated September 7, has barred the AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Sidda and Homeopathy) doctors from prescribing allopathic drugs in emergencies.
-Previously, Ayush doctors working in the government sector were allowed to prescribe allopathic medicine for primary care.
-However, the department, after studying various previous court orders, stated, “A harmonious reading of Section 15 of Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and Section of the 1970 Act leads to the conclusion that there is no scope for a person enrolled on the State Register or Central Register of Indian medicine to practice modern scientific medicine in any of its branches unless that person is also enrolled on a State Medical Register within the meaning of the 1956 Act. Hence, the earlier order has been withdrawn.”
-Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on 10th October backed the role of Ayurvedic remedies in prevention and treatment of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and hailed their immunity boosting properties.
-The health minister addressed the query by saying, I Quote “Ayurveda has a holistic approach towards disease management wherein salutogenesis is a major approach towards treatment of a disease condition and its prevention.” Unquote.
-Therefore, for prophylactic care against Covid-19, Ayurveda interventions are prescribed after in-depth study of literature, scientific studies, including, in silico studies, experimental studies, and clinical studies, he said.
-He added that the ministry has conceptualised and promoted public advisories about the use of time-tested and evidence based natural Ayush remedies for health promotion and immunity modulation of the people during the Covid-19 pandemic.
-The interventions advocated for Covid-19 like guduchi, ashwagandha, Ayush 64 and a guduchi and peepli combination have a substantial number of studies which prove their immunomodulatory antiviral, antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties, Vardhan explained.
-These interventions have also shown a good binding affinity with Covid-19 virus in in silico studies, he added. -Furthermore, on the recommendations of the interdisciplinary task force set up by the government, scientific studies have also been initiated with the aforesaid remedies to assess their impact in the prophylaxis,secondary prevention and management of Covid-19 afflicted cases, Vardhan said.
-His remarks come in the backdrop of questions being raised against the release of Ayush-based National Clinical Management Protocol earlier for the prevention and treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 cases based on alternative therapies.
-The IMA had questioned the minister on whether the proponents of this claim and his ministry were prepared to subject themselves as volunteers to an independent prospective double-blind control study in prevention and treatment of Covid-19.
-The largest body of private practitioners in the field of allopathy had said that science demanded reproducibility of a claim elsewhere in non-conflict situations, and double blind control studies.
-The Indian Medical Association (IMA) questioned Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan’s move to promote alternative medicines and yoga for Covid-19 patients.
-Vardhan had released a document on 6th October prescribing protocol for Covid prevention and treatment of asymptomatic as well as mild cases based on ayurveda and yoga.
-In a press release issued by IMA’s national president Dr Rajan Sharma and secretary general Dr R.V. Asokan, the association asked the minister five questions and sought his response to them.
-Some of these questions were —‘How many of his ministerial colleagues have so far got treated under AYUSH protocols?’;
-and ‘What is stopping him from handing over Covid care and control to the AYUSH ministry (from his own health ministry?’
-The association, which is the apex lobby of 3.5 lakh doctors in the country, demanded that “the Union health minister should come clean” on the questions.
-“If not, he is inflicting a fraud on the nation and gullible patients by calling placebos as drugs,” it said.
-Placebo is a dummy pill.
-Placebo is a measure designed merely to humour or placate someone.
