Interaction With Siddha and Ayurvedic Medical College Students, Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram

Traditional Medicine our core competence

I am indeed delighted to interact with the inmates of the Santhigiri Ashram and Siddha, Ayurvedic Medical College students. My greetings to the Director, researchers, physicians, staff and students associated with the Siddha and Ayurveda Hospital for their excellent contribution. I am happy that the staff and students of Santhigiri Ashram are promoting the cause of Anna Danam, Athura Sevanam and Athma Bodhanam instituted by Navajyothi Sree Karunakara Guru over four decades back after getting his enlightenment from the Sufi Saint Khureshi Fakir.

Kerala has been a leader in the Ayurveda and Siddha systems of medicine for centuries. The traditional eight branches of Ayurveda treat various types of diseases and provide personalized treatment to individuals. Ancient knowledge is a unique resource of India, for it has the treasure of a minimum of 5000 years of civilization.

The contributions made by the Siddha and Ayurveda institutions of Santhigiri Ashram in providing effective remedies for various kinds of ailments such as paralysis, piles, fistula, ulcers, discogenic diseases, degenerative diseases of the central nervous system, allergic diseases, eye diseases, HIV/AIDS, TB and Cancer are indeed noteworthy. I would like to talk on the topic "Traditional Medicine our core competence".

Biotechnology in Health Care

I would like to share my experiences that I had while I was at Anna University, Chennai. One of them resulted in getting a patent for a new molecule discovered from a herb as an anti cancer drug. This came out of the fusion of two great minds, one was a bio technologist and the other was a traditional Siddha medical practitioner. The traditional systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Siddha etc. have advocated and practiced preventive and curative medicinal recipes specific to individuals. The body, mind, food and environment were looked at in an integrated way to suggest a preventive or curative approach to health. Medicinal plants offer enormous scope for development of drugs. We need to create a database of traditional medicinal plants for specific bioactivity and a lead for the development of new drugs.

Bioinformatics

The convergence of bioscience and IT into Bioinformatics has given thrust to researchers for genomics-based drug discovery and development. Pressure is mounting on pharmaceutical companies to reduce or at least control costs. There is a growing need for new informatics tools to help manage the influx of data from genomics and turn that data into tomorrow's drugs.

Bioinformatics data plays a vital role and is emerging as a business model for the medical and pharmaceutical sector. It has a major role in key areas such as gene prediction, data mining, protein structure modeling and prediction, protein folding and stability, macromolecular assembly and modeling of complex biological systems. IT helps in bringing the tools to manage the high throughput experiments and the data they generate and sharing and integrating all the data in a meaningful way resulting into detailed models of complex systems, particularly biological pathways.

Networking Institutions

Our country is rich in human resources, particularly of scientists, doctors, technologists and engineers. The basic infrastructure is available for advanced research. The need of the hour is to network existing facilities and expertise with commitment and conviction to augment and facilitate the pace of research and development in the field of Indian traditional medicine. There are tremendous opportunities for technologists to work for the objective of 'Integrated Health For All' in a mission mode approach, which can be suitably evolved for implementation. I would suggest Siddha and Ayurveda Hospital to carry out collaborative research with other renowned Ayurvedic and Allopathic Hospitals in Kerala and in the country so that the diagnosis and treatment database will increase and lead to sharing of knowledge and good medical practices. This practice will reinforce good teaching. Good research is essential for good teaching. I would also recommend the conduct of a national conference on traditional medicine in which the traditional system practitioner of multiple systems of medicine can participate for getting an integrated view of medicare provided by our traditional healthcare system. This proposed conference may also recommend the launching of a quality scientific journal for reporting research, development, production and proving of system and the clinical data for enabling sharing of knowledge by multiple institutions in different disciplines.

Mobile Clinics in Hill Regions

Now I would like to discuss on how to reach medicare to the unreachable. On 19th October 2002, I participated in the launching of a Mobile Clinic and Research Centre in Uttaranchal. This effort was piloted by the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council [TIFAC], the Government of Uttaranchal, the Birla Institute of Scientific Research and many other agencies. After four years of its operation, I found this mobile clinic has been used in six districts of Uttaranchal and has treated nearly 45,000 patients during this period. Among the patients treated, 48 % belong to the below poverty line category. They have taken 10,000 ultra sound, 5,600 X-rays, 1800 ECGs and nearly 21,000 lab tests. The mobile clinic has documented the disease profile of the patients in the region that is the six districts which fall into the following categories: - acute peptic ulcer, anemia, anti-natal, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, hyper tension, pelvic inflammation, renal calculi, upper respiratory tract infection and worm infection. This type of analysis has been possible because of the computerized system of clinic management introduced right in the beginning. Also, the mobile clinic has been used in regions that are normally inaccessible and where organized medical facility is not available. I consider this as the best form of reaching healthcare to the neediest people. This is a low cost solution with committed healthcare personnel and institutions. I am happy that the Santhigiri Ashram has also adopted this concept and is providing medicare in the rural areas of Kerala through mobile Ayurveda and Siddha clinics.

Focused research

Siddha and Ayurveda Hospital can take a mission to scientifically bring out a document on diseases that can be uniquely cured through Siddha and Ayurvedic treatment. Based on this experience, even the syllabus in the Ayurveda College can be modified and treatment configured. What is needed in the country today is the evolution of treatment for diseases like HIV and HIV-TB combination. If Siddha and Ayurveda research and practice can give a solution, it is a great contribution to the world. I am happy to know that the Santhigiri Ashram is having Ayurveda, Siddha, Allopathic and Homeopathy doctors in their hospitals. I understand that all of them meet patients together and the most suitable combination of treatment is being designed and provided faster recovery. The experience of this model may be documented and circulated to other medical institutions so that they can recognize the merits of integrated treatment using multiple systems of medicines.

Conclusion: Doctors as health awareness creators

Since every one of you is involved in the noble profession of removing the pain of the people, you can also play a vital role in preventing ailments through proper health education to patients as well as their relatives and friends through life style intervention. This can consist of a proper diet with low fat and high fiber, regular aerobic exercise like walking and stress management through Yoga, meditation and other methods. This can help in preventing the recurrence of the disease in the patient as well as promoting health awareness at all levels. When you remove the pain of the people, the patient becomes part and parcel of you and considers you almost as God. Hence, the patient will definitely accept your health education considering you as the most respected Guru. Every patient receives his family members, relatives and friends when he is receiving healthcare in the hospital. That is one occasion where you can give this message of a healthy life style to all of them. A World Congress on Clinical and Preventive Cardiology is being organized at Abu Road from tomorrow. This Congress is going to discuss the results of an experiment on which lifestyle intervention through high fiber low fat diet, simple aerobic exercises and meditation has been provided to certain patients. The results have proved the hypothesis about such an intervention. I will be inaugurating the Conference from Madurai tomorrow.

I call upon the Siddha and Ayurvedic professionals assembled here to proceed confidently and chart their own course in achieving excellence in their chosen field. Siddha and Ayurveda practitioners may carry out research to establish the special methods of evaluation needed for proving the efficacy of their products. We must realize that traditional medicine is similar to the genetically engineered medicines of the Allopathic system. In the Western Ghats there is invaluable bio-diversity, which has been well documented. This region has been the cradle of Ayurveda and I wish you many more successes in your endeavour to provide quality heath care to the needy.

My best wishes to all members of the Santhigiri Ashram in their mission of removing the pain of the people through the traditional medical system, which is India?s civilizational heritage.

May God bless you.

Question and Answer Session

1. Do you think that there is some degree of deterioration in the age old values and traditions of our society because of the common tendency of the masses to "ape the west", as Swami Vivekananda put it?

- Gopalakrishnan, 4th Year BAMS Student, Santhigiri Ayurveda Medical College

Ans: There is some western influence through the media. Parents have the responsibility to advise the children what they should see and what they should not see in the television. The educational institutions must have a one hour class every week to promote moral values through reputed teachers. While I was in college, I remember the lectures given by highest authority of the Jesuit institution Rev Father Rector Kalathil of St. Joseph's college, Trichirappalli, Tamilnadu. Every week on Monday, he used to take class for an hour talking about good human beings, present and past, and what makes a good human being. In this class, he used to give lectures on personalities such as Buddha, Confucius, St. Augustine, Califa Omar, Mahatma Gandhi, Einstein, Abraham Lincoln including some scientific personalities and moral stories linked to our civilizational heritage. It is essential in the secondary schools and colleges to arrange a lecture by a great teacher of the institution once in a week for one hour on India's civilizational heritage and value systems derived from it.

2. Your Excellency, you have coined the concept of development with comprehensive security. As the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of India, do you think we should go on the offensive, instead of being on the defensive?

- Gopika Thuiyath, 3rd Year BSMS student, Santhagiri Siddha Medical College

Ans: We have a time tested policy of defence. There is no need to change this policy.

3. Your Excellency, you have time and again highlighted the idea of ?Unity of Minds? to achieve our national vision. Can you guide us Siddha & Ayurveda medical students on our role in achieving this great vision of yours?

- Gowri K Parvathy, 3rd Year BSMS student, Santhigiri Siddha Medical College

Ans: For example, as Doctors all of you have a common goal of treating the patients. This common goal can be the basis for Unity of Minds among all medical students. We have many systems of medicines such as siddha, ayurveda, unani, allpathy and homeopathy. The student from different systems can work with unity for finding the best possible system or combination of system for quick treatment of the patience.

4. Behind every successful man, there is a woman. With your life, you have proved otherwise. What is the secret of your success?

- Manu S Sankar, 3rd Year BAMS student, Santhigiri Ayurveda Medical College

Ans: Sweat, Sweat and Sweat.

5. Your Excellency, the modern world has stood witness to some of the major contributions as well as disasters because of science. In your opinion, is science universal or is it that there is bad science and good science?

- Shanthibhooshan, 4th year BSMS student, Santhigiri Siddha Medical College

Ans: There is nothing like bad science or good science. Science is always universal. For example, we can either use nuclear science for producing electrical energy or the same nuclear science can be used for making a nuclear weapon. The choice lies with the user. The scientists has to make the discovery and invention. Right type of use has to come from the right thinking political system.