Many interesting points were brought out in the debate on Health Ministers budget demand in the House of the People. Once again the gaze of the people, their leaders and the govt. was turned towards the problem of national health.
We appreciate the Honble health Ministers keenness “to give the best to the people” so far as health and medical treatment are concerned. According to her it appears to be an established fact that “the best” is the so-called “modern scientific” (i.e. the allopathic) system of treatment, like most things imported from the west. For the west there had hardly been any alternative choice, and allopathy was practically the only system to be developed and pursued until recently homoeopathy started claiming and obtaining recognition. Those countries will actually be able to decide after some time which is “the best”.
Even China is now relying more and more upon her indigenous system of treatment as being more suitable for her economy & requirements. We do not know by what complex we have come to consider “allopathy” to be “the best” for our country without comparing it with the indigenous systems and homoeopathy. The last three systems have a right to adopt the basic sciences and whatever is good and helpful in the modern medical methods including surgery. But the place of “the best” cannot be unquestionably assigned to the so-called “modern” system of medicine, especially when there is hardly any likelihood of its suiting the economic conditions of this country at least for decades to come.
Often it is after a number of expensive examinations of blood, stool, urine, sputa and by X-rays that even the diagnosis can be arrived at, and after that the treatment, often by injections, is equally or all the more expensive. To speak nothing of the rural population, how many people even in the big cities and towns can afford such expensive diagnosis and treatment? Unfortunately sickness and death do not wait for the fruition of any economic plans, and till it is possible to give the best to the people, the existing resources available in Ayurvedic, Unani and homoeopathy must be utilised to alleviate sickness and suffering.
Dreams of a distant future, however luring, can hardly afford solace against the present suffering which the rural population has to grapple with. The Honble Health Minister does not find it advisable or possible to do much for Homoeopathy and the indigenous systems of medicine until practitioners of these systems with a thorough basic scientific training are available. Nobody will deny the utility of training in the basic sciences like Anatomy, Physiology etc. But as matters stand at present, the want of this training is often used as a stunt by the opponents of these systems to prejudice the public mind with a view to obstruct their progress and to safeguard their own vested interests, at least for the time being.
Let us examine to what extent the actual prescribing in these systems depends upon a knowledge of these basic sciences. The diagnosis in Ayurvedic system of treatment depends upon the basic humours Vat, Pitta, Kuff and in Unani on Souda, Safra, Balgham and Khoon. Even after diagnosis of the disease according to the modern scientific methods, the prescription will have to be based upon the basic conception of humours judged by the condition of pulse etc.
Homoeopathy rests upon the basic natural law of cure – “similar cures the similar”. Prescribing in Homoeopathy depends upon a correct grasp, assessment and evaluation of symptoms and not upon a diagnosis of the disease according to allopathic methods, though the latter has its own utility for certain purposes. All these systems treat patients and not diseases which is always more sensible as the cure of the patient means automatically the cure of all his diseases whereas the cure or relief from a disease does not mean restoration of the individual to normal health.
It should now be abundantly clear that ordinarily most of the patients can be treated by these three systems without the very expensive laboratory tests, Xrays etc. It is in a very narrow margin of cases that the help of Anatomy, Physiology etc. and laboratory methods and Xrays may be called for. Of course, for surgical work, a very thorough and detailed knowledge of the basic sciences is required.
But for giving medical aid to the sick rural masses, even the older and present generations of Vaids, Hakeems and Homoeopaths can do excellent work, and in a country starving for medical facilities such relief should not be despised simply because of the vested interests propaganda branding these practitioners as “quacks” for want of training in the basic sciences. While attempt should be made to impart training of a reasonable standard in basic sciences to students of these systems, full use should be made the existing practitioners and state patronage should be extended to these systems, ignoring the vicious propaganda of the antagonists branding them as quacks.
This leads us at once to the problem of medical education in these systems in this country. It should not be forgotten that a very expensive medical education will enable only the rich to send their sons and daughters to medical colleges, and these young folks after qualifying themselves will not be inclined to settle down in rural areas for want of congenial living conditions, modern amenities and education facilities for their children. Medical education should not be prohibitively expensive for rural people of moderate means, whose sons and daughters alone can find rural life congenial to themselves after qualifying.
It should be seriously considered whether in addition to a full fledged degree course in Unani, Ayurvedic and Homoeopathy, there may also be a shorter diploma or licentiate course to cater to the needs of villages, at least for some time to come till economic and educational conditions in the country warrant its withdrawal. Admissions to the diploma courses should be encouraged by award of suitable scholarships to students from rural areas, conditional upon their rendering service in rural areas after qualifying.
For purposes of such a course in these systems of medicine, a much less detailed and lengthy course in the basic sciences than for M.B.,B.S. standard will do, at least till such time as further researches can enable the practitioners to adapt the indigenous systems to modern methods of diagnosis. With the help of this less lengthy course, they will be able to do minor surgery also. As far as very complicated cases are concerned, even the full fledged allopathic M.B.,B.S. doctors cannot cope with them in rural areas for want of suitable equipment and clinical laboratories and these cases will always have to be sent to base hospitals.
It would not be inappropriate to mention here that most of the graduates in Indian Medicine and Surgery receive a bias in favour of allopathic drugs and injections, as they find treatment with these more lucrative. The atmosphere and the way in which they are taught the allopathic side of medicine develops in them “an inferiority complex”, and they lose faith in Ayurvedic and Unani medicines. In our own anxiety to develop the indigenous systems on modern or ultra-modern lines, let us not become instrumental in killing them.
These systems should be allowed to develop according to their own genius, letting them assimilate as much of basic scientific education as is necessary for them, but not forcing too much of it upon them so as to vitiate the atmosphere and render it unfit for their growth and development. A fair standard of knowledge of the basic and auxiliary sciences would no doubt be desirable for the students of these systems not so much to enable them to prescribe as to help them in the general management of the cases, to enable them to assess the actual damage done by the disease, to visualise the prognosis of the case etc., and to know the limitations of their system of treatment so that complicated cases may be referred to proper quarters.
But the training in basic sciences of the same standard as for M.B., B.S. student is hardly needed by the students of these systems. Moreover, the training should be adapted to their special needs.
There is a scheme under the contemplation of the Honble Health Minister for training from amongst villagers themselves “doctors- aids” and “nursing-aids”. Here is a rich field for the utilisation of the homoeopathic system of treatment. The use of allopathic medicines by the “doctors-aids” would be fraught with grave risks to public health as their proper application often requires much technical skill.
The indigenous remedies are comparatively easier to use, but accurately speaking their proper use would depend upon a knowledge of pulse and the basic humours, as we have already noticed. But, Homoeopathy, being based upon symptoms expressed in the common language of the patients, can prove a very valuable asset for the purpose. The Homoeopathic remedies are much easier to apply in ordinary ailments, and are harmless even if incorrectly used. It is now being acknowledged practically all over the world as a scientific system of treatment.
B.A., M.D.S.
Dehradun, India