Traditional Medicine in Asia

to the kits. This will further help the health
systems to take care of a large number of
women and children as a first line of care
through traditional medicine.
Meanwhile, but again for the first time,
the Ayurvedic concepts of the Healthy
Mother and Child are to be studied through
an operational research project under the
joint aegis of the Indian Council of Medical
Research and the Central Council for
Research in Ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS).
Five states and 10 blocks have been
identified for this study. The areas cover the
overall approach to reproductive and child
health, including menstruation, antenatal
care, preparation for delivery, vomiting in
pregnancy, loss of appetite, constipation,
gaseous distention, acidity and diarrhoea,
treatment of oedema, loss of sleep, piles and
anaemia, delivery and its management,
contraception and the management of the
newborn. In regard to neonatal and child
health, the areas include care of the
newborn, precautions during the first week
after birth, supplementary food for the
infant, general growth and development of
the child, management of diarrhoea,
constipation in children and eradication of
worm infestation. The entire approach is
traditional and the applications are simple
enough to be administered by Ayurvedic
practitioners, nurse midwives, traditional
birth attendants or even at the household
level. This again is the first time that a joint
operational research study combining
research talent from allopathy and
traditional medicine will be undertaken to
determine the benefits of the Ayurvedic
approach in this area. The objective is to
identify areas of greater relevance and
significance, which could be introduced in
the Reproductive and Child Health
Programme.
The Defence Institute of Physiology and
Allied Sciences (DIPAS) has successfully
Role of traditional systems of medicine in national health care systems
developed a vaginal contraceptive
(spermicidal agent) from Neem Oil
(Azadirachta indica) in the form of pessary,
which has been approved for clinical trials.
This product of DIPAS has overcome the
inconveniences of using the oil as such,
being done by the CCRAS.
The work on Pipplyadi Yoga, a herbal
contraceptive, is already undergoing
clinical trials in five allopathic centres with
allopathic clinical investigators. Both these
initiatives will be a boon to rural women if
highly effective cheap contraceptives are
developed.
These examples show how the benefits
of Indian medicine are being brought into
the mainstream of health care where they
are poised to play an increasingly important
role.
Does Traditional Medicine Have
a Role in an Allopathic Set-up?
Different countries have made different
kinds of efforts to assimilate traditional
medicine into the normal health system.
This has met with varying degrees of
success. Some examples of how India has
given a role to traditional medicine in the
health sector are described below.
In a 900-bed general allopathic
hospital in New Delhi (the R.M.L. Hospital),
services for Homoeopathy and Unani
treatment are available under the same roof.
In another 1500-bed allopathic hospital
(Safdarjung Hospital), Ayurvedic and
Homoeopathic treatment is available.
Medicines are either given by the practitioners
or through the Central Government
Health Scheme (CGHS) to government
employees.
The attendance pattern in the traditional
medicine clinics was analysed over a sixmonth
period. The main findings were that
in Ayurveda, among the chronic diseases,
arthritis (sandhi vata) accounted for 10.8
145