Date:27/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/27/stories/2008092759440500.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Apollo Chairman for research in alternative medicine

Special Correspondent

Prathap C. Reddy addresses the Healthcare and Pharma Conclave

“Present system of medicine will become alternative system soon”
‘Rauwolfia Serpentina still the most trusted root by cardiologists’

- Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

Plainspeak: Prathap C. Reddy, CEO, Apollo Hospitals, and Daljit Singh of Escorts Heart Institute, during the ISB healthcare and pharma conclave in the city on Friday.

HYDERABAD: Father of corporate healthcare in India Prathap C. Reddy, chairman of the Apollo Group of Hospitals, has strongly advocated research in alternative medicines.

Delivering the keynote address at the Healthcare and Pharma Conclave at the Indian School of Business (ISB) on Friday, Dr. Reddy said: “25 years from now, the present system of medicine will become alternative system.”

To buttress his suggestion, he cited his personal experiences.

He once had his fractured hand treated at the popular Puttur bone setting clinic in Chittoor district. When his brother had a heart disease, the allopathic doctors had said he would live for just six weeks. But the Ayurvedic treatment he had undergone in Kerala ensured his survival for 42 more years.

‘Rauwolfia Serpentina’ was still the most trusted root by cardiologists. “We have too many clinics for dogs, horses, cats, etc. But where are the clinics in the forest. The animals themselves cure their disease by smelling a leaf. If they feel the ailment is still persistent, they eat a leaf or dig the earth to eat the roots,” he said. India needed to spend $ 20 billion (Rs. 80,000 crore) every year to create one lakh beds and the country required 16 lakh doctors immediately, against the present eight lakh. Health human resources are grossly inadequate as opposed to the demand.

He demanded a change in the Medical Council of India rules to enable private hospitals to offer specialty and super-specialty courses.

Dr. Reddy said that access to healthcare and insufficient bed strength (one for every 1,200 persons) were the other two challenges confronting the Indian healthcare industry.

India could employ 40 million people in the industry, against the present 3.9 million. Dr. Reddy said that paramedical staff and technicians should be four times the number of doctors to provide reasonable medicare to the people.