Monday, Nov 04, 2002
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Kerala
By K.P.M. Basheer
``Ayurveda should not go the allopathy way,'' Dr. Chowdhury, who was here to attend the World Ayurveda Congress, said in an interview with The Hindu on Sunday. "Ayurveda should not repeat the mistakes made by allopathy which is being heartlessly commercialised and exploited by the multinational drug companies.'' Dr. Chowdhury, a thorasic surgeon trained in the U.K., is the projects coordinator of Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK), which had set a model for developing countries in reaching low-cost healthcare to the underprivileged people. The GK, which was set up in 1971 by a group of healthcare professionals engaged in the Bangladesh liberation war to treat wounded freedom fighters, now works for about a million rural people. It campaigns for healthcare through community action, for low-cost healthcare and for popularising traditional systems of medicine. It is a strong opponent of exploitation by multinational drug companies. The GK hosted the December 2000 `People's Health Assembly' held in Dhaka, which was attended by NGO activists and healthcare professional from about 100 countries. Dr. Chowdhury said Ayurveda, which was a `science with a soul', was being recklessly commercialised and, in the process, its soul and philosophy were being killed. "In Ayurveda, the philosophy is more important than the herbs and drugs used for treatment,'' he said. The philosophy was based on a holistic view of life and environment. The ill person was viewed as a part of his or her surroundings and his or her relations with the Nature and other humans were crucial in the treatment. If this philosophy was ignored, as in the case of allopathy, the ancient system of healing would be ruined. He noted that Ayurveda was not based on Hindu philosophy, but Indian philosophy which was a composite one. He said that as a fallout of commercialisation, there was now a mushroom growth of Ayurvedic preparations which contained steroids, alcohol and other harmful components. He referred to the 1991 `Sura Tragedy' near Delhi, which killed some 700 persons who had taken an Ayurvedic preparation that contained a heavy dose of illicit alcohol. He wanted the manufacture and sale of Ayurvedic drugs to be strictly regulated. The drugs and treatment should be made accessible to all and affordable to the poor. Because of rapid commercialisation, the prices of Ayurvedic drugs had shot up in the recent past. He suggested that Ayurvedic doctors encourage a holistic view of healthcare. They should also enhance people's knowledge and spend more time on creating awareness of health.
`Handwash scheme'
Dr. Chowdhury said the World Bank-initiated `Washing Hands Initiative' to be introduced in Kerala shortly was an `insult to Keralites.' He said he was flabbergasted at the very idea of a scheme that would give lessons to Keralites on the need for washing hands using soap so that they could keep off diarrhoea. He noted that in India the incidence of diarrhoea was the lowest in Kerala. It was a cruel ploy by the multinational soap companies to market their products and to snuff out competition from local soap companies. "It shows the arrogance and obstinacy of the World Bank and the multinational companies,'' he said. (The World Bank's Water and Sanitation Programme is launching the Hand Washing Initiative in Kerala and Ghana, Africa, shortly. The programme, ostensibly aimed to reduce incidence of diarrhoea by popularising washing germs off the hands, is supported by World Health Organisation and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The funding comes from the multinational companies Proctor and Gamble, Johnson and Johnson, Hindustan Lever and Godrej (all of which manufacture soap) as well as the USAID, the Environmental and Health Programme and a Dutch agency. McKinsey is the management consultant to the programme. The Hand Washing scheme in Kerala is said to cost Rs. 48 crores.
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