Covid-19: Government’s tacit approval of traditional medicine treatments alarms India’s doctors
BMJ 2020; 371 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4319 (Published 12 November 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;371:m4319Read our latest coverage of the coronavirus outbreak
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Dear Editor
The beauty of the Indian Health Care System lies in openness. The system provides free access to all forms of therapy for the benefit of citizens as long as they are harmless benign and acclaimed beneficial. Like Fevipiravir is available in India for use in Covid patients based on trials in some other country. While in many countries like the USA and UK it remains under Govt control and yet to be released for public use.
The same is true about Traditional systems of Medicine. Many drugs like Kaddha (decoction of Tulsi (basil), sauth (dry ginger), black pepper tea leaves in hot steaming water) have been used in India for ages for treatment of sore throat, cough and the common cold. It is a well accepted Medicament for its soothing effects by way of counter irritation properties and fomentation. There may not be many published reports for the same but huge public experience and mass belief forms the formidable basis for its survival over the years. Indian allopathy doctors, manning patient care in five star corporate hospitals claiming to be masters of health of India probably are living in arrogant superiority. These self-acclaimed Doyens of health would be ready to accept the beneficial effects of placebo but raise all sorts of doubts and arguments against traditional Indian medicines, probably the fear of competition or fear of displacement from position of prime healer is the mind set behind such views. At best, one can accept that one doesn’t know detailed effects of such treatments and remain neutral rather than be a vehement opponent or cryptic supporter of the same.
On the other hand, the Alternative Indian System of medicine should leave no stones unturned to standardize the formulations, protocols and further subject them to stringent quality control norms, open debate and double-blind placebo control trials to earn the respect of the national and international community rather than just claiming their herbs as Sanjivni leading to 100% Cure.
The move by the Indian Govt to integrate Aysuh with Modern Medicine needs to be looked at in the right perspective and is aimed to improve healthcare. No doubt initial hiccoughs are bound to come but given proper stimulus, encouragement and facilities it may turn out to be a game changer against many diseases including mild Covid.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Dear Editor
The official Government backing in India for Ayurveda and other traditional systems of medicine, under the umbrella of a full-fledged Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) is hypocritical, short-sighted, and misguided. It is driven not so much by a genuine conviction that it is a proven system of healing that has been tested and validated by modern scientific research techniques, but rather by a regressive, antiquated and reactionary belief, at least among some politically powerful and well-connected people, that India was once a glorious, scientific and technological superpower and that its rightful place in the modern world as a "Vishwaguru", or World Sage, has been denied it by Western interests.
Support for this ideologically driven position extends beyond just health and medicine. It started right from an address given by the Prime Minister, Mr Modi, to a meeting of the Indian Science Congress in Mumbai in 2015, in which he stated, drawing on texts from the Ramayana and other Hindu religious texts, and quite without any sense of irony, that the ancient Indians knew about and practised plastic surgery and heavier-than-air flight. In subsequent years entire sessions were devoted to Vedic science, 'Vaastu shastra', and accomplishments of Ancient Indian Science in fields as diverse as medicine, mathematics and surgery.
The 2019 session of the Indian Science Congress, inaugurated again by the Prime Minister, heard talks from prominent Indian personalities that Einstein and Newtonian theories of gravity were wrong, that in-vitro fertilization was known in Ancient India, and that the God Vishnu possessed heat-seeking missiles. [1]
The British-American Nobel Laureate and biologist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan stated that he would never attend another Indian Science Congress; it was a circus, he said. [2]
It is thus against this background - of a fundamentalist almost fanatical belief that anything ancient and mentioned in the Vedas and Puranas HAS to be literally true - that the present support for traditional systems of medicine needs to be seen.
In 2017 the Ministry of Ayush set up a committee called SVAROP - Scientific Validation and Research on Panchgavya - and invited research proposals to study the healing and other properties of the 5 fundamental products from the cow - milk, ghee, curd, urine and dung [3][4]
The Coronavirus pandemic has presented a remarkable opportunity to push this agenda vigorously and relentlessly. I wrote about the full gamut of recent developments in an opinion piece in an online news portal in New Delhi, Newslaundry.com. Keen readers may wish to read it and listen to the podcast. [5]
My bottom-line conclusion is that as in many other countries, traditional systems of medicine (Chinese Traditional Medicine for example) are here to stay. In the west the level of faith and private expenditure on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is huge and growing. We need to encourage the careful evaluation in well-designed randomised controlled trials of their claims and, when they work, incorporate them in an integrated system of healthcare practice. Till such time as this happens, my message is that Ayurveda should market itself on faith and belief and refrain from claims that it has been scientifically validated.
References
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Science_Congress_Association
2. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Science-congress-a-circus-Nobe...
3. https://twitter.com/GorwayGlobal/status/1150760097448169473?s=20
4. https://thewire.in/science/panchgavya-svarop-iit-csir-cow-urine
5. https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/11/11/ayurveda-should-sell-its-cures-on...
Competing interests: No competing interests
Dear Editor,
This is neither to oppose the views expressed in this article nor to promote eagerness of people- the general public, the practitioners of traditional and alternative medicine or any other authorities.
But if we take an unbiased view of the happenings around us, we find numerous instances where, even the practitioners of modern medicine who pride themselves to be the apostles of ethics and scientific spirit have rushed to board the bandwagons of half baked recipes of vague benefits and uncertain safety profiles.
One needs to be open minded towards all possible fields which may yield viable safe and effective treatment modalities for the enigmatically unpredictable juggernaut rolling on unhindered crushing over a million people on its cruel course; at the same time one must be patient, critical and cautious in approach while accepting any breakthrough as appropriate in our anxious eagerness for the deliverance for the scourge of the Pandemic.
- Arvind Joshi; MBBS, MD; FCGP, FAMS, FICP.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Re: Covid-19: Government’s tacit approval of traditional medicine treatments alarms India’s doctors
Dear Editor
The article written is totally having a very wrong intention of demoralising and hiding the facts taken by government of India and its Ministry of AYUSH in combating and controlling the spread of this recent pandemic Covid 19. Very recently during the National Ayurveda day celebrations, honourable prime minister of India shri. Narendra Modi ji and Director general of WHO has jointly declared the establishment of Global Traditional Medicine center at India considering the earnest and untiring efforts taken up by the Ministry of AYUSH in popularising and generating evidence on traditional medicinal systems of India across the globe.(1)
In the wake of COVID 19, when the entire world was panicked by the spread of infection and unable to understand where to begin, the advisory released by ministry of AYUSH to improve immunity was whole heartedly taken up by the entire world which were simple and easy to follow. (2).The ministry of AYUSH has prepared a mobile app named AYUSH Sanjeevani along with the survey results, which reported a surged use of AYUSH and it’s various remedies being absolutely supported by about 6 million people across the country (3) the interim reports states the acceptance and benefits of AYUSH interventions is reported by around 68 percentage of population. Various international reputed organisations across the globe are initiating researches along with AYUSH ministry to explore the potentials and evidences in these medicaments. Various national research organisations like CSIR, IGIB,DBT, ILBS are all in the process of conducting trials and generating evidences (4)
The claim made by the author about the comments of Dr Meenakumari Director National Institute of Siddha and Dr. prof. Tanuja Nesari Director All India Institute of Ayurveda were “ R Meenakumari, director of the National Institute of Siddha, told The BMJ they have had four clinical trials underway since March 2020 to test the efficacy of kabasura kudineer. Tanuja Manoj Nesari, director of the All India Institute of Ayurveda, says its 500 doctors have remained free of covid-10 infection despite being on the front line “because they were consuming the ayurveda preventive kit daily,” which has also been provided to 80 000 police in Delhi over a period of two months. She claims the initiative has brought down the incidence of the infection though, again, no study results have been made available”
Dear editor and author we all know the time taken for publishing an unbiased research work, both highly acclaimed doctors have only explained the various works initiated by them, not the claims of results. The data will be published in public domain once they are completed. How many research publications did IMA do on COVID 19 as an organization standing for public health welfare of Indian population ? The authors bias on the comments abd claims made by IMA its secretary are very easily understood by any reader.
Self medication that the author has highlighted is typically misleading if there are products in Indian market claiming immunity boosters they are not promoted by Ministry of AYUSH nor its subordinates. You can even find ayurveda tooth paste and face cream as Ayurveda itself is one of the most biggest business domain for every industry for Usp due to its increasing popularity and high demand.
The author has mislead the readers when ministry of AYUSH has completely rolled out protocols on asymptomatic, mild and moderate cases not anything to complicate (5). The protocols is specially meant for resisters qualified AYUSH practitioners and not for any lay man, AYUSH ministry or its subordinates have never legitimised nor initiated any move on self medication or protocols for layman. The ministry’s protocols also include post covid management protocols to retain the normal health status of Covid infected cases, where as the conventional system of medicines have only survey results of various post covid complications ranging from lung fibrosis to loss of eye sight.
Dear author an inferiority complex should not be alarmed as a concern when you are helpless to misguide public. There are 7 lakh AYUSH professionals in our country and they are actively involved in combating this pandemic in all the possible ways they can contribute. Don’t forget the alarming rate of spread of infection and absence of any kind of solution for your so called most advanced evidence based modern medicine to this tiny little virus. At this moment let us work together to the benefit of mankind than throwing mud at each other because the crisis is not away from you or me. Your comment on Minister’s use of AYUSH medications and why they turned to modern medicine was so childish. Each system has its own strengths and weaknesses mutual respect to each other is the ultimate responsibility of every medical professional “you might be highly qualified and generation ahead technologically and evidence based than your mother but mother is mother ultimately don’t shoo her off.” so is the traditional medical systems of India to the modern medicine.
Hope this message reach you in good intentions and change of mindset without inflicting any more complexes.
References.
1.https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thehindu.com/news/national/who-to-set-u...
2. https://www.ayush.gov.in/ayush-guidelines.html
3. Chiluveri AC, Goel S, Rao BCS, et al. Impact Assessment of Effectiveness Acceptance and Usage of AYUSH Advisories and Measures in Prevention of COVID-19 through AYUSH Sanjivani Mobile Application. J Drug Res Ayurvedic Sci 2020;5(1): 63–66.
4.https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.economictimes.com/industry/healthcare/bio... covid19/amp_articleshow/78314022.cms
5. https://www.ayush.gov.in/docs/ayush-Protocol-covid-19.pdf
Competing interests: No competing interests