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Even
though a lot of work is being done in the field of alternative
medicine, few of us are aware of it. With the setting up of apex
bodies for all the various streams of Indian medicine, the government
has made an attempted to consolidate the ancient knowledge of
healing.
One
of the major problems of alternative medicine is its incapacity to
communicate globally. The problem occurs at many levels. At one level
traditional practitioners are not fluent in any language but their
own so they are not able to translate their knowledge into languages
that can be understood globally. At another level, their practice is
highly individualised. The same medicine may be prepared with
differing percentages of its components. Which is the right measure
is a question that could eventually lead to an ego issue. At yet
another level, they do not have statistics of field-testing and so
are not able to give proof in the modern scientific parlance.
In
an attempt to bring all this under control and set up some specified
standards that will be operative for all practitioners of alternative
medicine, the government has instituted Councils with units across
the length and breadth of the country.
The
Government of India established in 1969, a Central Council for
Research in Indian Medicine and Homeopathy (CCRIMH) to develop
scientific research in different branches of Indian systems of
medicine viz Unani Medicine, Ayurveda, Siddha, Yoga, Naturopathy and
Homeopathy. The research activities in these systems continued under
the aegis of the CCRIMH until 1978, when it was split up into four
separate research councils, one each for Unani Medicine, Ayurveda and
Siddha, Yoga and Naturopathy and
Homeopathy,
so as to further develop these systems in consonance with the basic
philosophies of the respective systems.
Their
broad areas of work are a clinical research programme,
standardisation of single and compound drugs, literary research,
survey and cultivation of medicinal plants and family welfare
research.
The
topics sound boring by name, but imagine the excitement of finding
drugs made from natural ingredients which have been tested in a
laboratory and which have the history of being able to help
medically! Under the section of clinical research, each drug is
tested and its efficacy measured. One drug that seems to have a
miraculous effect is called Pippalyadi Yoga. It is a contraceptive,
the reference to which is in a 13th century manuscript by Bhava
Prakash. After studying the effects of the drug for more than ten
decades now, the Council has found that if it is taken twice a day
through the month, pregnancy is avoided. Its success rate is 100%.
Further it has had no side effects!
Another
achievement of both Ayurveda and Unani medicine has been in treating
leucoderma. The research activities of the Council of Ayurveda and
Siddha medicine, for the past three decades, since its inception,
have resulted in the evolution of drugs / formulations like
Ayush-64 for malaria, Ayush-56 for epilepsy, Ayush - 82 for diabetes
mellitus, 777 oil for psoriasis and about 18 patents on processes
developed in the Council's laboratories, which are poised for
commercial exploitation.
In
addition to this, other drugs like Guggulu for Medoroga,
Mandookaparni for mental retardation, Katuki for liver disorders
and treatment procedures like Ksarasutra in piles, fistula-in ano,
fissure, Amasaya Shodhan in peptic disorders & Pancakarma
techniques in para / hemiplegia, have been successfully
demonstrated.
Unani
medicine has achieved great success in treating bronchial asthma,
rheumatoid arthritis, hepatitis and malaria. The centre has also
prepared a kit that is not yet marketed but will soon be in the
market. This kit is a cute box with many little bottles in it. Each
bottle has medicines that you would have difficulty in recognising as
other than allopathic! All of them are for common ailments like cold
cough, stomach upsets and so on.
In
addition to the fact that these medicines cure without side effects
or weakening the patient too much, they are also very inexpensive.
This is one aspect that prompts the councils to undertake welfare
activities in villages. Under this programme of theirs, they reach
out to areas where medical help in the form of hospitals have not yet
reached or are difficult to access. They then set up their mobile
dispensaries in these areas and try and cover as many families as
possible.
It
is not only one-way- their interaction with the villagers and tribal
people. The councils also collect local lores and local medical
beliefs, analyze them and bring about a certain standardisation in
their preparation. They also collect information about plants, their
identification and ensuring their regular supply.
The
Ayurveda and Siddha unit alone has covered 400 forest areas and
more than one lakh twenty thousand plant specimens representing a
large number of different families, genera & species have been
collected. About 3000 drug samples of plant, mineral and animal
origins have been collected. Information on 3,800 folklore have
also been collected and a monograph covering about 2,900 folklore
has been compiled.
A
lot of information about these councils can be had from their well
developed web site:
http://www.ccras.com
for the council on ayurveda and siddha medicine
http://www.unanimedicine.com
for information about unani medicine,
http://www.yogaparishabharat.org
for information on the council for yoga and naturopathy
http://www.ccrhindia.org
for information on homeopathy in India.
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