SIDDHA VISION -2025
1. Preamble
1.1 The healthcare system of the 21st century should maximize the health and functioning of both individual patients and communities. To accomplish this goal, the system should balance and integrate needs for personal healthcare with broader community-wide initiatives that target the entire population
1.2 Throughout most of the modern era of medicine there has been a lack of integration and, at times, a split between public health and medicine. Public health focuses on health promotion and disease prevention at the level of populations, while medicine focuses on individual care, with an emphasis on the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Ideally these approaches should be seamlessly integrated in practice, education, and research.
1.3 Siddha medicine is primarily based on complete balanced outlook to life through diet, lifestyle and practices that promote harmonious healthy living.
1.4 We as a society collectively take efforts to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy through Siddha Medicine
2. Scope of the Vision document
2.1. This document would include the Policy, Goals and Strategy for delivering safe, efficacious, affordable healthcare through Indian systems of medicine.
2.2. The document covers areas of Health services including treatment protocols, Education, Research, Drug development, cost and access.
2.3 Vision 2025 will include Public, Private organizations, Voluntary organizations, informal groups of Traditional healers, individuals, Researchers, Manufacturing organizations, which are not involved in generation of profit.
3. Objectives
3.1 The specific objectives of the document are listed below:
3.1.1To help build a promotive and preventive healthcare approaches through Traditional wisdom thereby prevent productivity loss of the nation. A healthy and prosperous nation for contributing to the development of the country through Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM).
3.1.2 To create an enabling environment for the growth of Siddha system to cater to the current and future health needs of the state, nation and to the Diasporas.
3.1.3 To strengthen and build physical infrastructures & Human resources
3.1.4 Adopting professional excellence in Indigenous Systems of Medicine (ISM) to achieve the quality of life by contributing to physical, mental, social, economic and spiritual well-being of the public.
3.1.5 To enhance community and society participation in the healthcare process so that local citizens have a voice and can contribute ideas to the healthcare system.
3.1.6 To strengthen research activities to ensure the quality of service and products pertaining to Siddha systems of medicine.
3.1.7 Effort to validate the safety and effectiveness of Siddha medicines using current medical guidelines.
4. Strategies
The following paragraphs describe how these objectives are to be achieved.
4.1 Building a Promotive care approach
4.1.1 The health challenge of the next decade is expected to be the life style disorders, age related disorders in urban, semi urban areas while the communicable diseases like HIV, TB, and Acute Fluid Diarrhoea and Lower Respiratory Infection in children pose a challenge both in urban and rural areas. The strength of Siddha medicine being the promotive health and management of lifestyle disorders, validation of the practices through public health interventional and observational studies needs to be adopted. The research institutes and institutes of higher learning will take up these as higher priority in its projects.
4.1.2 Anti-aging Kayakalpa therapies would be promoted thorough specialized campaign with participation of educational institutions, private sector players and voluntary organizations
4.1.3 Educational steams like Sarva Siksha Abiyan, social studies will include healthy lifestyle habits, yoga, home herbal gardens and promote traditional food habits in children. Traditional systems of medicine should be valued and reinforced in school as “scientific.” When indigenous knowledge is taught alongside material in school curriculum, students respect their indigenous knowledge and tend to utilize and disseminate it later in their lives. There should be active involvement of Siddha physicians in school health programmes.
4.1.4 The role of Siddha in the national health programmes in prevention of anemia, malnutrition and non communicable diseases should be recognized.
4.1.5 Efforts to promote Siddha system as a component of Health tourism using promotional schemes of ‘International Cooperation’ of Dept. of AYUSH.
4.2 Creating ‘Enabling environment for the growth of Siddha system’
4.2.1 The Health policy of both the Central and State Govt. is to encourage ISM as a viable alternate or at times at par with bio-medicine in certain clinical conditions and to guarantee access to traditional medicine. This means to ensure its equitable availability and affordability, with a particular attention to the poorest population. In low-income country like ours, the need of inexpensive and effective treatments for common diseases is very high. Yet one-third, and sometimes even a half of the population of these countries, lack regular access to essential drugs. Traditional medicines are, in comparison, much more available and affordable than allopathic medicine.
4.2.2 With the purpose of increasing the access to traditional medicine, first, reliable indicators to accurately measure levels of access – both financial and geographic – so it must be developed; and, secondly, the safest and most effective therapies must be identified, to provide a sound basis for efforts to promote.
4.2.3 To expand Siddha services to every metro cities and state capitals in the country and every primary health centre in the state. Siddha facilities in urban areas particularly in cities like Madurai, Coimbatore and many suburban areas of Chennai should be enhanced to improve accessibility. To have in-patient facility in every Govt. Hospital.
4.2.4 Provide affordable care to every seeker of traditional medicine. Improve TM use level to at least 30% of population. Develop quality, all inclusive treatment protocols based on ISM genomics with repeatable, reproducible results. The state / central funding for ISM should be increased to 14%. of total health budget.
4.2.5 Recognize the role of Private players and NGO’s and encourage public private partnership (PPP) will be a chance for mutual appreciation and constructive criticism, which otherwise is not possible.
4.2.6 To be included in health insurance cover for select disease conditions like lifestyle disorders and provide key role in Non communicable diseases for Traditional systems of medicine.
4.2.7 It should also be considered that traditional practitioners live at the community level, making traditional medicine extremely available. For this reason, "the role of traditional practitioners should be recognized and cooperation between them and community health-workers should be strengthened.
4.3 To strengthen and build physical infrastructures & Human resources
4.3.1 To have a technical and financial plan to strengthen and build physical infrastructures,
Human resources and to attain a leadership position in managing lifestyle disorders and refractive illness. The objective include strengthening, expanding, restructuring, both government and private health care services to enhance traditional medicines in their health programs.
4.3.2 The educational institutions should be strengthened not just to fulfill the barest minimum standards laid down by Central Council of Indian Medicine but to the level of medical institutes of National repute.
4.3.3 The curriculum at the Undergraduate level should provide a level of confidence for the students to establish general practice in the society from which they come from, as the gap in providing healthcare via bio-medicine continues in rural areas. Students should be given training in the grass root community level and Community Orientation Programme (COP) should be made mandatory.
4.3.4 Post-graduate education should provide an expertise to function as a specialist in the chosen area. The specialization branches should not be merely aping the bio-medicine but identified strength areas of Siddha medicine. The institution and curriculum should be strengthened.
4.3.4 The curriculum is so designed that Siddha doctors should be competent enough to meet the changing global health scenario
4.3.5 Knowledge being the key, continuous upgrading of knowledge by faculties is recommended. All existing textbooks to be updated within a five year period by the vast human resource available in educational and research institutes.
4.3.6 Drug Testing Laboratory should be upgraded in order to test as many samples of drugs being supplied to Govt. Hospitals, at least three batches a year.
4.4 Adopting professional excellence in Indigenous Systems of Medicine (ISM)
4.4.1 The Tamilnadu Siddha Medical Council to be strengthened to play an important role in advisory, investigatory and supervisory areas to monitor legal activities of Siddha system of medicine.
4.4.2 The physicians associations should encourage self-regulation for ethical practice and best quality service to the patients Inducement of patients with tall claims through any media, electronic or print should be regulated by stricter implementation of existing laws and bring in self regulation in advertisement.
4.4.3 The physicians associations should encourage minimum hours of training, participations in workshops, seminar and conferences by its members for knowledge up gradation and skill development in treatment procedures.
4.4.4 Trainings should be open to private practitioners as well. Considering the workload in teaching institutes reputed voluntary organizations and private institutes may be encouraged to conduct such programmes.
4.4.5 Accreditation of hospitals scheme of Dept. of AYUSH should be utilized for improving standards.
4.5 To enhance community and society participation in the healthcare process.
4.5.1 Traditional Medicine is not primarily based on Disease- Drug approach but Do’s and Don’ts for health and disease. Positive lifestyles like Satwik food, Siddha yoga including regulated breathing practice – Vasi yogam, Meditation –Dhyanam plays an important role in prevention of disease and healthy living. Some simple home remedies and health diets are made at home which can significantly reduce health related expenses. All these need community awareness and participation.
4.5.2 Dept. of AYUSH conducts AROGYA fairs, limited advertisements in electronic media and supports development of IEC material. Siddha should fully utilize this and reach maximum number of people.
4.5.3 Community herbal gardens, kitchen herbal gardens, Focused group meetings on the responsibilities of an individual in maintaining his or health, educating women Self help groups will help active community participation. Create awareness through audio visual media.PHC doctors should coordinate with local panchayat leaders and community.
4.6 To strengthen research activities to ensure the quality of service and products pertaining to Siddha systems of medicine
4.6.1 Current infrastructure and research priorities though has contributed to the development of drugs for certain diseases like Psoriasis, research priorities should be lifestyle disorders, refractive illness for which bio-medicine do not have an answer or a solution which is unaffordable. Research on fundamental concepts of Siddha system is stressed. Research in the arena of non invasive diagnostic tools in Siddha like manikadainool and neikuri should be initiated.
4.6.2 Physical infrastructure and funding for recurrent expenditure to be enhanced to take up treatment protocol and drug development for at least ten diseases. Establishing safety and efficacy profile for 100 most frequently used Siddha formulations acceptable to international standards.
4.6.3 Siddha drug- Bio-medicine interaction, food drug interaction needs to be studied.
4.7 Effort to validate the safety and effectiveness of traditional medicines using current medical guidelines.
4.7.1 With regard to quality assurance a systematic method will be institutionalized for the quality assurance of indigenous systems of medicine’s products and processes aligned with national and global requirements.
4.7.2 The World Health Organization (WHO) has set global guidelines towards evaluating the safety and efficacy of traditional medicines. These guidelines are quite extensive and include the evaluation of traditional medicines according to their environment and the contexts in which they are being used. WHO guidelines for methodologies on research and evaluation of traditional medicine (2000) articulate a strategy to improve and promote the proper use and development of traditional medicine. Quality standards for Siddha Medicine should not only follow similar guidelines but develop methods appropriate to local conditions to ensure the synergy of the product is not affected.
4.7.3 Introduction of reforms in regulatory affairs along with capacity building of units in the Indian System of Traditional Medicine to help maximize growth. The industry in the small and micro segment will need to collaborate and form clusters where knowledge and resource sharing can help to maximize capacity utilization. Small units need to come out the traditional shackles and adopt a contemporary image.
4,7.4 In this regard, there is a need to ease the licensing systems and rationalize safety & efficacy for drug innovations. The government should recognize the strength in the holistic system, encourage the development of classical preparations, insist the ISM doctors to utilize diagnostic tests wherever applicable to provide more conviction to the treatment protocol.
4.7.5 The industry should document all its processes from raw material to packaging. The practitioners of Traditional System of Medicine should document diagnosis, treatment processes, report adverse drug reactions and publish review of cases. There is also a need for the industry to work in collaboration with the TSM doctor or ‘vaidya’ in the drug development process.
4.7.6 The task on hand is to ensure Schedule T compliance, institutionalize quality tasks at every stage, develop value-added products, preserve traditional process for ‘Classical process/recipes, invest in research and development. The units should have a global mindset and a local focus to cater to domestic market needs. These small companies should look at adopting information technology and backward integration to succeed,
We, the members of the Siddha community present on the meeting on 26th June, 2011, solemnly pledge to work towards the set goals.
Vd.S.Usman Ali
Dr.G.Sivaraman
Dr.M.P.Agasthiyan
Dr.A.Kumaravel
Dr.T.Thirunarayanan
Dr.K.Ravi
Dr.M.Murugesan
Dr.R.Sudha
Dr.R.Manikantan
Dr.M.Meenakshisundaram
Dr.R.Padmapriya
Dr.Lavanya
Dr.Pitchayakumar
Dr.Sathiyarajesaran
Dr.G.Subashchandran
Dr. M.Suresh
Dr.S.Rajkumar
Dr.S.Ramaswamy pillai
Dr. Joseph Maria Adaikalam
Dr.G.Thangavel
Dr.Shankar
Dr.L.Sivakumar
