Efficacy of traditional medicine to combat Covid-19 pandemic – ETHealthworld.com

by Dr. J. Hareendran Nair

India is witnessing a second wave of coronavirus, with daily Covid-19 cases rising exponentially in the country. The rapid mutation of the virus and never-ending new strains have now become more severe and it is hard to tell, how this situation will manifest in future. This rise in Covid-19 cases has put a toll on the healthcare system, leading to uncertainty in the minds of the people. While government is taking requisite steps to ensure vaccination is ramping up in the country, there is still a long road to recovery.

This has led to a renewed focus on alternative natural therapies and lifestyle changes that will help the body cope with this deadly virus. Given Indias rich history in traditional medicine - the need of the hour is to look at innovative approaches and solutions. The Central governments impetus on Ayurveda drugs formulated to treat Covid-19 across the nation comes at the most appropriate time when more than 22 million people in the country are affected by the virus and the entire administrative and healthcare machinery are at work 24/7 to slow down the spread of the pandemic. The initiative of the Ministry of Ayush is a recognition and encouragement to hundreds of researchers and practitioners from traditional streams of medicine who have been relentlessly working towards finding a cure for Covid-19 as part of the Atmanirbhar drive.

I have been a practitioner and researcher of Ayurveda since the early 80s and have encountered different types of fevers (Jwaras) and is well aware of the ways in which Ayurveda deals with the diagnosis, pathophysiology, classification, management, prognosis and treatment of fevers and pandemics. I have also experienced how the medicines and its composition evolved according to the changing requirements of the environment and patients lifestyle and physique.

I have been working with a team of researchers to evolve a system that solves health problems through an approach based on the protocols of western medicine on formulas based on herbal origin. All the drugs that we formulate in our laboratory goes through stringent testing including toxicity studies which is published. Our research aims at discovering the reasons for the imbalances that a disease can cause the body and formulate poly-herbal drugs that address the external element that causes the detrimental effect.

The medicines that have been introduced are aimed at restoring respiratory health and have proven to be effective in clinical trials on patients affected by the disease. The move by the government to distribute drugs that have been proven effective comes at the most opportune time when the nation is struggling from a massive surge of the disease.

Moreover, as many studies have shown integrative therapy using Ayurveda and Yoga have proven to be effective even for Covid 19 positive patients with multiple comorbidities. As a practitioner of modern Ayurveda medicine, I would recommend the use of integrative therapy using Ayurveda and western medicine for emergency treatment for patients who are affected by Covid-19. There have been a few studies based on this which are available for the public.

And finally, it is heartening to note that India is walking the path of the countries from South East Asia where traditional systems of medicines have been treated on a par with Modern Western medicine. Almost all the countries have displayed remarkable level of success in curbing the pandemic.

To conclude, India and other nations of the world have to note the example of countries in the South Asian region where traditional systems of medicines are an integral part of their treatment system. Almost all the countries in the region have weathered the pandemic with remarkable success and the use of traditional systems of knowledge have a large role to play in the manner in which people in these areas have overcome the crisis and managed to put their economies back in the growth path.

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Efficacy of traditional medicine to combat Covid-19 pandemic - ETHealthworld.com