Pragya Mahajan
This has reference to Rajesh Dhar’s write-up ‘ Administrative anarchy puts ISM in Shambles (DE , July 28,2014) ‘.Your paper has been highlighting these problems in one or the other form since long and now when the attention of Minister for Health & Medical Education has been drawn by your correspondent to the ‘ decades old ‘ problems of ISM department , he in the typical Ministerial style has responded that the ‘ chronic problems will need time to rectify’ and at the same time has stated that ‘efforts are being made to sort out the problems at an earliest to help the department run smoothly’ . Whatever may be the meaning of ‘ at an earliest ‘ in Hon’ble Minister’s dictionary as if six years was not adequate time to make a beginning to check this anarchy and prevent the department from going to shambles , at least he has admitted that the department is not running smoothly and despite all the claims of efficiency and good governance by the present Government , the truth is that this ancient system of Medicine is a victim of neglect and apathy of the Government at its worst.
We all know that there has been enormous development in the field of Medical Science in the past few decades . The knowledge about the human body and various causative factors responsible for the spread of disease has been recognised . New diagnostic techniques and new chemicals to be used as medicines are flooding the health market everyday. More and more hospitals are being opened in the private sector and highly qualified doctors with vast knowledge are working there as well as in the Government hospitals. Lot of money is being invested in research to develop medicines for the diseases which don’t yield to drugs developed so far. There are wonder drugs and equipments in the modern medical science to save the precious lives of those who can afford its cost . The same was not possible some years back.Despite all these advancements , still we find that people by and large are not healthy . Every single person is suffering from one or the other disease , be it gas problems , allergy , joint pains , anxiety,tension,insomnia,blood pressure , sugar and so on and so forth . In fact, there are no short cuts to health and like wealth , health has also to be earned by following the principles of Health as given by ancient seers through Ayurveda , the science of health and longevity and not merely a system of medicine . It stresses daily regimen (Dincharya),Ritucharya (Seasonal regimen) and Sadvrit (Good-conduct). Modern medicine doctors have little or no time to brief the patients about the serious side effects of the drugs being used indiscriminately to control various symptoms of the diseases rather to cure them radically. Serious side effects of the drugs used is the basic reason for the present state of affairs and numerous health problems of the population. Still we can’t ignore millions of lives saved by advancement in modern surgery and their achievements in other fields like eradication of small-pox,polio and prevention of rabies and other killer diseases through vaccination .
The need of the hour is to integrate the best of both the modern and ancient systems of Medicine to benefit the patient as China has done by teaching Chinese medicine to doctors of modern medicine and vice versa . This will also preserve and promote those health traditions which are still relevant in modern times and can help prevent serious side effects associated with modern drugs.It is high time that the Government of Jammu & Kashmir take initiative in this direction and promote integration of both the systems in the interest of patient care and better health delivery system through Modern medicine and Ayush. For this it will have to radically change its policy of discrimination and step motherly treatment towards ISM in general and Ayurved in particular and take all the necessary steps for promoting them.
The author is Secretary, Ayurved and Holistic Health Awareness Society (AYUHAS) Jammu & Kashmir,Jammu
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