052. Save Health From Shamans of Ayurveda And Shehanshas Of Allopathy

Save Health From Shamans of Ayurveda And Shehanshas Of Allopathy 

By P.S.Remesh Chandran
Editor-in-Chief
Kerala Health Research Online

Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani are the three Indian systems of medicine used widely in Kerala. Before two centuries, there were only these three systems in Kerala. There was no allopathy. The control of these three was put under the Director of Health Services and control of the drugs belonging to these three indigenous systems of treatment was put under the State Drug Control Administration. The variety of plants and herbs relating to these systems were to be cultivated and promoted by the Medicinal Plant Board OF Kerala. In short, under the British and under the post-British governments in Kerala, ayurveda, siddha and unani had no identity. For government, health meant, and still means allopathy. Kerala’s Chief Minister, Health Minister and Health Secretary, if and when they become sick, will only go to an allopathic hospital, that too a large private one, only. 

Doctors, staff and the treatment technology of native systems suffered much and had to compromise much under the allopathic strong hands who controlled them in the health services department of Kerala. They were considered pariahs by those in the department and in the government and allopathic personnel were considered like Brahmins! Hospitals, beds, staff, medicines, equipments and vehicles would only be provided for the allopathic system. Leave, increment, higher grade, promotion and pension applied for by native systems’ staff would be ignored by the staff of the DHS, or kept pending or go missing altogether in the health directorate and the various district medical offices. These systems with more than 2000 years’ tradition were condemned, laughed at, ignored and disparaged by arrogant medical and clerical officers in the health services department, while they catered everyway to the whims of the proponents of a system which was only 200 years old. This neglect and hatred of officers towards these three time-tested and cheap systems of medicine gradually created such a fury and uproar among people who could not afford costly allopathic treatment and medicines, reflected well in the popularity of the few remaining ayurveda, siddha and unani physicians in the state reached a stage where unless these native systems were not separated from the state health services, people will see to it that the allopathic drug industry in the state collapse. At last bifurcation came, against the wishes of the health department. A separate Department of Indigenous Systems of Medicine (Ayurveda) was created, under a new director and staff. Still the question and state of siddha and unani systems remained the same. Like ayurveda suffered under the allopathic directorate, they continued to suffer under the control of the new Ayurveda Directorate. No separate departments and directorates for them were ever created, bi-furcating them from Ayurveda Department. 

The Government of India and people in the health sector of India had by then come to believe that only the creation of an exclusive Ayush Department for catering to the needs of native systems of medicine in India would hold them and save them from the immensely rich and strong allopathic industry. India turned this line and several states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar began to bifurcate them from the mainstream of allopathic health services and create separate Ayush Departments for their protection and rescue. Many states in India which are long being ruled and exploited by the allopathic industry, due to politicians and bureaucrats on the payroll of this behemoth industry, still oppose formation of separate Ayush Departments. These states include Kerala which is thought to be one of the most progressive states in India, literally and culturally. The fact is, the State Health Services Department, Directorate and Ministry is heavily bribed by the allopathic industry to make creation of Ayush Department impossible. 

Will creating a separate new department for Ayush solve the problems of indigenous systems of medicine in Kerala and save them is another question. Did the attempts of the health services department save allopathy in Kerala? More hospitals, staff, medicines and equipments came to be built, employed and procured but more number of people became sick and sought treatment each year. Population did not increase much but number of sick people increased unbelievably. Without thousands and thousands of large private hospitals coming into commissioning, the health department could not have contained this situation. Like traitors and cowards, they permitted opening up and privatization of everything in medicine and treatment. 

The problem, when viewed from the people’s side, is enough government hospitals to give free treatment in indigenous systems not being there. Sick people wreck the economy. When they become sick they cannot work; unless they are treated back to well being, they will perish, economy will collapse and country will ruin. That is why state has to provide free treatment. That is the concept of free hospitals system. We may ask, cannot the sick person pay for the treatment? Learn that we become sick only when the last rupee has left our purse. Diseases will not come to us when we are ready with money. Remember that a sick person is a person without money, almost always. So the problem, as far as people are concerned, is setting up new training centres for indigenous systems, creating more doctors and staff, teaching them new techniques, making available new hospitals, staff, medicines and equipments and provide infrastructure. But, for the Ayurveda doctors in Kerala, representing the Ayurveda Medical Association of India, it is only a problem of setting up a new Ayush Department in line with what the central government did in New Delhi and creating a few posts of Joint Directors for them in the Government Secretariate, which was just what they requested to the health minister of Kerala in February 2013. There is a standard phrase in government dealings which every desperate post-seeker uses: ‘this would make no additional financial commitment for the government’, and they used it. In a country where MLAs sit in state assemblies and vote unanimously for their own pay rise instead of conducting public referendum, what else can we expect from ambitious doctors? 

The arguments of the Ayurveda Medical Association of India can be read here: http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=73654&sid=1


Tags: Health, Kerala Health, Indian Health, Health Research, Health News, Health Service, Indian Systems Of Medicine, Indigenous Systems Of Medicine, Allopathy, Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Ayush Department,