Traditional Medicine in Asia

Traditional Medicine in Asia
In India there are thousands of
Ayurvedic and Unani formulations licensed
as medicines and sold over the counter and
included in the formularies of health
departments, both by the national and
state governments. These formulations can
be prescribed by practitioners of the
respective traditional stream who suggest
the use of classical (generic) or proprietary
drugs exactly as done in allopathy. All such
items are sold as Ayurvedic, Unani or
Siddha medicines and carry a licence
number, together with the list of ingredients
on the label.
Role of Traditional Home
Remedies in the Health System
Home remedies and licensed drugs fall into
two distinct categories. On the one hand
there are what could be determined as
common remedies for common problems,
and almost every country in South-East
Asia, China and Korea have their own tried
and tested traditional remedies for
problems falling in the category of gastric
problems, diseases of the respiratory
system, skin and muscular problems,
treatment of diseases of the reproductive
and urinary systems, digestive disorders,
treatment for wound healing, and common
paediatric problems. This list is not
exhaustive, but countries like India,
Thailand, China, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal,
South Africa and Korea, to name but a few,
all have their own lists of herbs which are
commonly used singly or in combination,
made into a fresh paste, decoctions, or
dried and powdered, having no side-effects
and which have been in use in the
community for generations as the first
remedy when symptoms manifest.
Urbanization and the advent of the
nuclear family leading to the virtual
disappearance of the grandmother, the
mother-in-law, and the village elders, have
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led to a situation where common remedies
which had been administered without any
doctors for years have now become
questionable for a new generation of
Western-educated urban public exposed
only to the allopathic system and allopathic
drugs. The age-old practices of maintaining
kitchen gardens and visits to the village
grocer who stocked all the dried herbs have
gone into disuse in the cities. Knowledge
about which part of the plant is to be used,
namely, the root, stem, bark or leaves, has
been effaced. Yet, for centuries this had
been the mainstay of entire populations,
long before allopathy came on the scene,
and continues to be so for tribal and village
people in many developing countries
even today.
Every government is in a position to
identify such drugs, whether they are in use
in the country of origin or in another
country having a similar socio-cultural
environment, to be used for self-care,
primary health care and as preventive
medicine. 1 Such remedies are used very
frequently in countries like India, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan, and the same
or similar plants are used with little
indigenous difference. Thailand is reported
to have identified about 150 selected
herbs, screened them and brought the list
down to 61 items accepted as a cure for
illnesses signified by 17 symptoms. The
herbs selected were mostly items used
regularly in foods grown in domestic
gardens like ginger, garlic, banana and
aloe vera. The idea is to provide an
alternative to promote good health, by
attempting to solve health problems
through self-reliance at the personal,
family and community level. These
remedies can take care of common
maladies such as constipation, diarrhoea,
nausea, joint pains, burns, cough and cold
and sore throat.