Arun Jandial
This has reference to your commendable and timely editorial, ‘Promote Ayurveda’ (DE August 30) wherein you have referred to the call of Minister for Industries and Commerce that we must give special attention to the promotion of Ayurveda in our state as it is rich in herbs and there is increasing demand for natural remedies. Your paper has many a time drawn the attention of the state Government towards the need to promote Ayurveda but it is unfortunate that till now no remedial steps have been taken by the govt. to prove that it is sincerely interested in its promotion and saving it from extinction.
Promotion of Ayurveda at present has to be done through its dispensaries mostly situated in the far flung areas of the state and Ayurvedic hospital situated in the heart of Jammu city. These dispensaries are understaffed and unlike health department there is no uniform staff pattern for these dispensaries. At least 45 of the 270 plus sanctioned Ayurvedic dispensaries being run by the state government are being run by the lone medical officer in the most humiliating conditions without any subordinate staff e.g. pharmacist, ISM (Dawasaaz). These dispensaries remain closed when the doctor has to attend to office, avail a leave or to attend to some emergency. These 45 dispensaries were upgraded in the year 1982 and in the 34 years, the state Govt. has not felt the need to provide them with minimum staff. This is a glaring example of the neglect of the state Government towards this system. Most of the dispensaries are housed in rented buildings and some have been constructed under IPP-VII which need repairs but there are no funds for the same.
The medicines supplied are purchased at rates approved by the department through tendering process and as in government purchases the minimum quoted rate is approved which affects the quality of the drugs purchased and their efficacy. If the drug purchased is poor in quality, it fails to show the desired effect and cure the patient of the ailment, which brings disrepute to the doctor, institution and the system. No compromise need to be made for purchasing quality medicines while purchasing cheap drugs from non-reputed companies. Sometimes the rates quoted are so low that genuine drugs can’t be supplied at the quoted rate resulting in supply of non-standard drugs. We have seen that even in medical department where there is lot of quality control and tests are easy to be conducted for establishing the genuineness of the chemical compound being used a drug, even in hospitals non-standard drugs have been supplied in the past what to speak of herbal products used as ayurvedic drugs because it is difficult to establish their genuiness because of being a combination of so many herbs. The new Health Minister to apprise himself of the condition of these dispensaries should appoint an expert committee of Ayurvedists to evaluate the functioning of these dispensaries in respect of building, staff, supplies and working conditions and addressing the genuine grievances of staff and recommend necessary steps needed to be taken to popularise Ayurved through these institutions so that they can fulfil the expectations of the public to which these dispensaries cater.Similar exercise need to be conducted for the state level Ayurvedic hospital also which also need upgradation and expansion by sanctioning the posts of specialists and setting up specialities to render specialised treatment to the public.
The Central Government had provided funds for setting up a Drug Testing Laboratory (DTL) and drug manufacturing unit (Pharmacy) at Jammu and buildings for both of them have been constructed in the premises of erstwhile Ayurvedic college (Presently Ayush Directorate) but neither necessary posts for running these two important projects for promotion of Ayurveda were created nor necessary equipment and machinery purchased/ installed resulting in the buildings being used to store medicines or run other offices. How these funds have been mis-utilised and the projects shelved need to be thoroughly investigated and responsibility fixed, if some accountability exists in the functioning of the department. Had these projects been completed the dispensaries could have been supplied genuine drugs and testing of their genuineness could have been ensured.
There has been a strong demand from Ayurvedic doctors to bifurcate the present state level Directorate to provincial level on the pattern of Health department where two separate directorates for Jammu and Kashmir exist. The present directorate created in 1989 has failed to fulfil the genuine aspirations of the Ayurvedic community as proved by abandoning two ambitious projects of Drug Testing Laboratory and Drug Manufacturing Unit . Moreover it is discriminatory and works against the interest of Ayurved by supplying Unani medicines and posting Unani doctors in Ayurveidc dispensaries. There is a post of Director General but no post of director for Jammu and Srinagar. Keeping in view the topography of the state and for effective monitoring of the institutions, the sooner the department is bifurcated, the better it is. No posts of District officers have been created in the newly created districts which is another example of apathetic attitude of the Government toward the system.
Another example of the neglect of the system is the fate of Govt. Ayurvedic college for which again the building has been constructed but no steps are being taken to make it functional by creating necessary posts and starting admissions. It is high time that the state Government stop discriminating against the system and take steps to promote the system by improving the condition of its dispensaries in respect of building, staff and supplies, upgrading Ayurvedic hospital, setting up hospitals and herb gardens at district level, bifurcate the existing directorate and open new dispensaries to provide employment to thousands of unemployed Ayurvedic doctors.
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