Many institutionally qualified AYUSH vaid in private practice often demand that they must be given permission to prescribe certain allopathic drugs as the traditional system healing does not have any effective drugs for certain medical conditions. More often they would cite certain medical conditions such as infectious diseases, acute pain, need for immune suppression, blood pressure control etc., to make their demand that they need right to prescribe certain allopathic drugs.
If the AYUSH vaid were placing genuine reason by narrating the limitations of AYUSH then should we not ask the question why we should continue AYUSH as medical science and its products–drugs? Should we not re-promote AYUSH as ancient health wisdom for paramedical benefits and accordingly designate the role of AYUSH viad as well.
If AYUSH can offer only palliative care, we should promote AYUSH only for the above purpose and only then, the system will have credibility and relevance in the society. Similarly how those vaid who have qualified from such stream of education – traditional healing wisdom and philosophy can be given permission to prescribe certain allopathic drugs and cause medication health fraud.
Integrated health care approach should not be confused with permission to AYUSH vaid to prescribe certain allopathic drugs.
A Siddha vaid, physiotherapist, YOGA expert together offer their specialized therapies to a patient who is under allopathic treatment for certain medical condition can be accepted but at any cost, AYUSH vaid in private practice should not be given permission to practice/prescribe allopathic drugs because such legalization is dangerous to the life of millions of poor and illiterate people in remote villages. Further legalized cross pathy also would erode the relevance and prestige of our ancient traditional wisdom called AYUSH.
The hyper-national euphoria during post-independence era may have led to the recognition of AYUSH as medical science but the pro-nationalist sentiments and scientific temperament of today must re-designate AYUSH as wellness and health based traditional paramedical wisdom and so are the graduates from the above stream of education, health and wellness experts and not doctor.
Re-designation and re-positioning of AYUSH as ancient health wisdom for wellness and paramedical benefits is must and only then AYUSH would get its due share of recognition, relevance and significance.
If promote AYUSH are great science and allow AYUSH vaid to prescribe certain allopathic drugs, naturally only lie, quackery and gambling alone shall thrive and that would vanquish the credibility of AYUSH. How cross pathy by several Siddha vaid in private practice in Tamil Nadu over several decades has eroded the credibility of Siddha system, we must study to avoid legalization of quackery.
As long as cross pathy exist, so long AYUSH shall remain weak, fatigued, deaf, blind and mute, before modern science. If AYUSH is promoted as ancient health wisdom for paramedical benefit, certainly AYUSH would gain recognition and relevance not only in India but also across the globe.
The demand of certain AYUSH vaid to prescribe allopathic drugs is quite self-centred, diminishing and reductionist logic and such vaid want to serve ‘self’ than the society or AYUSH. All those who demand permission for quackery through cross pathy really show not the commitment and pride over our ancient wisdom that has come to us through several generations by word of mouth.
Indian must ask all those institutionally qualified AYUSH viad who longs for permission to engage in cross pathy, why and how they have lost trust and faith in the system that they have studied and on the contrary how still lakhs of patients who believe and follow several tenets and recipes of AYUSH.
AYUSH Ministry instead of wasting money from public exchequer to promote AYUSH through various programmes must mandate all those AYUSH vaid in private practice to practice their respective stream of wisdom and thereby popularize AYUSH. Such popularization of AYUSH alone would stay long and not the advertisement or AROGYA Melas.
AYUSH needs to be popularized first among all those institutionally qualified AYUSH vaid in private practice who are engaged in cross pathy. Integrated treatment approach and permission to AYUSH vaid to prescribe allopathic medicines should not be mixed with each other.
Integrated treatment approach by the mutual and considerate involvement of AYUSH vaid, YOGA expert, physiotherapist and allopathic doctor is needed and such approach will certainly bring the relevance of AYUSH to the society. On the contrary, right to prescribe allopathic drugs by institutionally qualified vaid would kill the traditional wisdom once for all. We should not provide black cat security to quackery to destroy our health delivery system as well as AYUSH wisdom.
