Traditional Medicine - Some questions

Recently i addressed students from USA doing their Semester in India Programme. The raised some questions on traditional medicine. I am sure many would have the same questions. So I thought will post the reply here also.

1.What advantages do you see in the philosophies of ayurveda versus the philosophies of biomedicine? 

Ans:Traditional Medicine is based on the priniciples of living in Harmony with nature  and holistic whereas Bio-medicine approach is  more compartmentalized approach with specialist for every body system. TM believes in ' Strong body with good immunity  will take care and fight against invasive mocrobes, carcinogens etc while Bio-medicine aims at killing the invading organism.

2. Do you believe ayurvedic and western medicine institutions should be kept separate?

 No, the ideal model would be a integrative approach where Ayurvedic Physicians and Western  Medicine Physicians sit together, discuss  and provide best possible care to the patient including promotive health, cleansing therapy and rejuvenation.

3. Do you see traditional medicine as superior to other types of medical care? Why or why not?

No system can be claimed to be superior to other. They have to coexist and where ever one system is beneficial in disease prevention and care that system should be adopted. Each system could be complimentary to one another

4. Are there illnesses today that are different from previous generations?

Yes in India. Infectious disease burden and epidemics like Swine flu, Avian flu, dengue, drug resistant tuberculosis goes increasing in one hand and Non communicable diseases like obesity, hypertension, diabetes is also growing even among rural population due to sedentary lifestyle and occupational hazards for people working in Information Technology  sector is also increasing.

5. Is the "modern person" today in balance?

Certainly not. In spite of enviornment awareness, Modern person lives under continous stress and competition and live in a condition of Global warming, polluted enviornment.

6. Is traditional medicine specifically useful in Indian society, or is it useful anywhere in the modern world?

Nature and Five elements, Trinity of Life, Six tastes are common to the whole world. There may be some variation in climate, pollution level, food habits, stress level etc, That variations could be factored in TM and herbs of tropics may very from temperate zone . But clear application for western herbs is possible based on the Taste and enviornment. Even within India there is a diversity in food culture etc but principles are same.

CTMR appointed GMP consultant for IMPCOPS

The six decades old multi-state cooperative society, Indian Medical Practitioners Cooperative Pharmacy and Stores Ltd (IMPCOPS) based in Chennai has revived its GMP status after a period of two years. IMPCOPS, the only one ISM practitioners’ society in the co-operative sector in the country had lost its Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification in 2007 because of lack of infrastructural facilities and lack of continuous upgradation.Recently, the director board of the society has decided to increase its sales to Rs 35 crore in the next few years from its present turnover of Rs 17 crore. Following the decision, the board has approached the Chennai-based ISM service provider, Centre for Traditional Medicine and Research (CTMR) to suggest measures for achieving the lost GMP status. CTMR, after carrying out a detailed audit in the unit, recommended some proposals for reviving the earlier status. Along with this, IMPCOPS has prepared a project report to upgrade the lab and the manufacturing facilities to increase productivity and turnover. On submission of the report to the ISM directorate, inspections and testing of finished product samples were carried out by the concerned authorities in October this year, and finally the State Licensing Authority of ISM, Dr Sarojini Devi, has issued the long awaited Certificate to the society. The society has further appointed Vaidya. S Usman Ali and Dr T Thirunarayanan of CTMR as consultants to carry out the project.The upgradation envisages environmental friendly green energy, fuel efficient systems, alternate power source to overcome frequent power cuts, R.O plant etc. The Lab will develop Standard Manufacturing Procedures for herbo-mineral preparations which would be a model for other industries in the sector.The doctors-cum-manufacturers’ society has been manufacturing 700 formulations of Ayurveda,Siddha and Unani generic formulations and was the first ISM manufacturing facility in the country to mechanize its operational methods. The society claims that it has a live membership of 10,000 practitioners and possesses a good brand image for its products which are being produced without any deviation from the way the classical texts have illustrated and maintain good quality standards. However, the society has been encountering some kind of problems in supplying its products to various government institutions in Tamil Nadu and neighbouring states due to non-renewal of GMP certification two years ago.According to sources, the society was struggling hard to upgrade its facilities as it has a huge manpower cost, besides a host of expenses including the maintenance of old equipment, increasing energy cost and processing of water. The delay in upgrading the facilities was the reason for losing the GMP status, said the consultant Dr T Thirunarayanan.Dr M K Thyagarajan, secretary of the society said that this initiative will help the company to fulfil institutional orders from government of India and other state governments and help increase its turnover. He said the workshop on GMP implementation conducted by CTMR last month was an eye opener to the different shop floor manufacturing supervisors and staffers who have assured to maintain the GMP status always. Impcops proposes to submit the project report to the Department of Ayush for assistance under Centre for Excellence Scheme. The joint secretary of Department of Ayush, B Anand during his recent visit to the company assured to consider the proposal as it is an old surviving cooperative and a pioneer in manufacturing ISM drugs.

Field trips and Invited lectures at Department of Dravyaguna, Institute of P G T & R in Ayurveda, of Gujarat Ayurved University. Jamnagar

Dr.T.Thirunarayanan, Siddha physician and Vaidya.S.Usman Ali, Director, Centre for Traditional Medicine & Research, Chennai visited Gujarat Ayurved University from 25th Aug, 2009 to 27th Aug, 2009 for interaction with experts of different institutions and departments of the university on the various Research activities in Indian Medicine. The Department of Dravyaguna has organized lecture by Dr.T.Thirunarayanan on ‘New product Development in Traditional Medicine –Challenges’ on 25th August. Dr. Parameswar Prasad Sharma, Prof. & Head of the department introduced the speaker and the topic. Dr. Tarulata N. Pandya, Dr. Rabinarayan Acharya, Readers of the department, Research scholars and Post-Graduate students of Dravyaguna, Bhaisajyakalpana, Rasashastra, Ayurved pharmacy and Medicinal Plant Sciences attended the lectures and actively interacted with the speaker. Dr.T.Thirunarayanan highlighted the point that new product development is essential due to changing environment, disease pattern and a broad spectrum of people across the globe showing keen interest in Traditional medicine and this should happen without compromising the basic principles of Traditional medicine but adopting to current day requirement. He insisted that these new products should necessarily undergo pre-clinical and clinical trials and all regulatory requirements fulfilled before launch. There was one more lecture on ‘External Therapies of Siddha medicine and similarities with Ayurveda’ on 27th August. The stress was on utilizing the external therapy techniques more frequently in clinical practice so that the recovery is fast.

On 26th August, Vaidya S.Usman Ali led the team of Dravyaguna students to Jam Barda hills on the botanical identification field trip along with Dr.T.Thirunarayanan & Dr. Bhupesh R. Patel, Lecturer of the department. About 100 plants of medicinal value were observed in this 9 kilometer stretch and Dr.S.Usman Ali gave simple clues to establish botanical identity of the plants using certain peculiarities seen in the macroscopic examination and co-existence of some plant with others (Bio-diversity) was also explained. The unique medicinal use of these plants in Siddha practice was highlighted by Dr.T.Thirunarayanan and the use by local community was elaborated by Dr.Bhupesh R.Patel. Students made a listing of plants of Barda hills along with photos and deposited the CD in the department for future reference.

On 27th Vaidya. S.Usman Ali explained the various medicinal tree species planted in the Joggers' park in Jamnagar to the students. Many visitors to the park showed keen interest in the explanations provided and joined the students for the rest of the evening.

The entire three day activities particularly the field trips were well coordinated by Dr. Bhupesh R. Patel, Lecturer of the Dravyaguna department.