CTMR organised this workshop at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Anaikatti, Coimbatore.
Date: 31st July and 1st August, 2010
Venue;
The choice of venue was due to the fact that it is a learning centre of higher consciousness with good ambience and proximity for the healers and infrastructure for accommodating the healers and also to provide them insight into the various traditional medicine related activities of the centre like medicinal plants demonstration garden, medicinal plants value addition unit, organic farming of medicinal plants and conservation of endangered medicinal trees including Saraca asoka apart from the well maintained hospital in the remote tribal area.
Objective:
The key objective of the workshop was to bring together expert traditional healers from different region of the state and exchange the knowledge and health practices. Major themes were Varma chiktsa, Visha vaidyam, Bone setting, Women and Child health apart from ethonobotanical resource and practices of different tribal groups. Communication were sent to over 1000 Siddha physicians both institutionally trained as well as traditional healers by Short messaging Services, E-mail and Snail mail and based on feedback 60 healers were identified and invited as delegates. All most all districts were thus covered. Additionally 30 traditional healers and institutionally trained physicians of Siddha and Ayurveda took part as non-residential delegates. Members of other NGO’s like Isha yoga trust, Coimbatore Tree Growers association also took part. Most of the residential delegates reported one day in advance and arrangements were made for pre-conference informal interaction and visit to Nilgiri Bio-sphere Park. The media release about the workshop created a good awareness and healers from neighborhood districts attended the workshop as observers.
Day-1
Inaugural session.
The Workshop was inaugurated by Swami Shakshatkarananda, the resident acharya of the centre for higher learning. Swamiji explained the importance of traditions and their contribution to Indian society and also stressed that the traditional healing practices had been continuously nurturing the well-being of communities even in inaccessible areas. Swamiji released the workshop souvenir. Dr.T. Thirunarayanan, Secretary, CTMR; said documentation of traditional knowledge was necessary for the revival of the ancient system and also spoke on Siddha system, the folklore associated with it and its importance in health care, affordability, availability and accessibility particularly for primary health care and in chronic disease conditions. Dr D. Narasimhan, Professor in Madras Christian College and a renowned ethno botanist delivered the key note address and explained the richness of the Indian tradition and the need to protect community-based intellectual property.
The Session on Varma had lecture demonstration by Vd.Mohanraj of Munchirai and Vd.Ramaswamy of Ragavendra varma hospital for Spinal disorders Chennai. ‘Hands on training’ on locating varma points of the head region and simple healing techniques was given. Vd.Murugesan of Pulliyarai and Vd.Kanagaraj took part in the discussion that followed.
The Session on ethnobotanical resources was chaired by Vaidya. S.Usman Ali and he presented Ethnobotanical resources used by different ethnic groups of Tamilnadu and explained the scientific research carried out on plants more frequently used by the healers in poison treatment, bone setting and varma. He called upon the healers to continuously upgrade their knowledge by frequent interactions among themselves and with researchers and institutionally trained ISM. Physicians. Five healers from Tirupur, Theni, Thanjavur, Dharmapuri and Tenkasi shared their experience on treating common ailments, skin diseases, renal stones, respiratory illness and gynecological disorders. Vaidya G.Swami of Kabilarmali in Namakkal district an octogenarian spoke about medical ethics. Vaidya Kandasamy spoke about the effectiveness of plant derived salts.
Day-2
Dr.S.Rajkumar made a presentation on the various treatment procedures adopted in treating poison bites and also other types of poisons in the Session on Visha vidyam. Vd. Kuppuswamy and Vd.Vellakamu exhibited the plants used and the rigorous discipline adopted by the healers and the restrictions suggested to the victim. The Scorpion sting, bee sting, wasp sting were readily treatable and in snake bite their nasal and ophthalmic application could provide critical time required for the victim to reach hospitals.
Vd. Venkatraman of Pallipalayam gave a lecture demonstration on treating simple fractures and dislocations and also clearly explained the limitations of adopting these methods in complicated fractures. He suggested the healers to avoid head injury and complicated fracture. He also listed the plants used in fracture healing.
Dr.R.Sudha of Govt. Siddha Medical College, Chennai made a presentation on the preventive care to be adopted by adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating mothers, various gynecological problems, and ways to prevent them and if already diseased safe plant based effective treatment and their scientific validity. This session had many women from public who have come based on news paper report of the inaugural session.
Session on Society and health
Vd .Malaravan spoke on healthy food practices based on tradition and how it helps one to be free from disease. He explained the practical benefits observed while treating people when they sincerely follow Pathyam suggested. Vd.Rajendran enumerated the various plants used in social events and rituals by the tribal and non-tribal people of mettur, kulathur taluk of Salem district. Vd. Somasekaran of Palacode explained about his traditional herbal medicine retail trade and the most commonly used materials by the local community and stressed that the knowledge of traditional medicine is still available with public and healers should take efforts to strengthen the knowledge and make the community use the simple techniques.
The plenary session was chaired by Dr.T.Apparanandam of Siddha Health Foundation and he requested each practitioner to note down their clinical experiences and also adverse effects if any seen. He said the time has come for traditional healers and institutionally trained to enrich their knowledge to provide better healthcare for the people
Visit to Medicinal plant Garden:
All healers were taken to the Medicinal plant demonstration Garden of AIM for SEVA in which over 200 plants are grown and saw the certified organic cultivation of medicinal plants. They also visited the garden were genetic collection from different part of the country of Gymnema, Asparagus, Aegle marmelos, Saraca asoka and Gmelina sp. Vadiyas who have brought seeds of different plants sowed them in the nursery and were in turn provided saplings that they do not have from the nursery. They visited the free hospital run by the trust for the tribal and was surprised by the infrastructure available and also the cleanliness maintained.
Valedictory Session.
Vadiya. S.Usman Ali listed the follow up action to be done by the healers associations and individual healers and assured the support of Centre for Traditional Medicine and Research in providing training in treatment, documentation and IPR related issues. Shri. D.S Raman of Green Kovai assured all assistance to healers in terms of plants, saplings and stressed the need to revive the healing traditions for the benefit of not only the poor marginalized communities living in the remote areas but also to the entire humanity.
Feedback from healers.
The feedback forms were received from all participants and they were very appreciative about the content and the healthy deliberations. They profusely thanked the Department of AYUSH for the funding and CTMR for not only arranging accommodations, travel allowance and also quality content of the presentations. They wanted a workshop on Pulse diagnosis and the ‘Eight tools of diagnosis’ which could be cost effective.
Coverage by media
Both vernacular and English language press covered the event which created wider awareness and Doordarshan Kendra broadcasted the event.
Mrs Sheela rani chunkanth,IAS, Principal secretary and CMD, TIIC ltd inaugurated a “Siddha Health Centre” at Chinnandi kuppam, Injambakkam panchayat, on 20/8/10 and in her address stressed the need for use of ISM drugs, its safety and how effective it could be. This unit is run by of Centre for Traditional Medicine and Research (CTMR), Chennai with the support of Tamilnadu Industrial Investment Corporation and The Catalyst Trust. CTMR is a non governmental organization working for promotion of Traditional medicine and involved in developing cost effective treatment procedures with the objective of health care for all. This centre will provide preventive, curative health care to societies including fishing community of Neelangarai, Vettuvangeni area of kancheepuram district. A model herbal garden was also opened which will be useful to the day today health care of this community. Free saplings will be provided to all interested residents of this region. A series of awareness programmes are also planned on personal hygiene, seasonal regimen, healthy food habits, simple herbal preparations suggested in ISM, in coming months.
