 "Where is the Indian apothecary headed?")
On a searing Delhi morning, Shailesh Jain is busy attending to patients at his small clinic in Rohini. Two patients sit in his room and many others wait outside as he frantically scribbles something on a pink notepad. The wall behind him is plastered with images of about a dozen medicinal plants. A woman in her mid-40s is here to see Jain about a stomach ailment. A young man accompanying her wants to know whether the doctor can do something about his receding hairline. He jots down the name of a herbal oil and hands the piece of paper to him. "Try applying this for at least two weeks, if it doesn't help, then come back," he says politely.
Jain has been an Ayurveda practitioner for the last seven years. A consultation at his modest clinic costs Rs 300. "Ayureveda is the best natural cure for boosting immunity," he says afterwards.
It is the same at Gagandeep Singh's clinic in Patel Nagar. It teems with people even at 8 pm. Patients come to him from as far as Gurgaon for consultation. While the clinic officially closes at 9 pm, Singh often extends his work beyond normal hours to meet patients. His medicines - most of them formulations of the clinic itself - enjoy immense popularity among patients.
Ayurveda has had its detractors, particularly because of tall claims about its ability to cure diseases such as cancer, epilepsy, malaria, asthma and arthritis. But as the throngs at the clinics show, it continues to be popular with the masses. But can Ayurveda realistically do what some of the modern medicines are woefully struggling to do? More significantly, do we have enough evidence that these natural substances are effective?
JLN Sastry, head of healthcare research at Dabur, one of the country's top manufacturers of Ayurvedic products, says that the history of the science is well documented with over 25,000 ancient manuscripts available. There is no denying, he says, that these medicines provide better cures than modern medicines. It is a holistic health system that aims to bring total harmony in the human body. "Ayurveda is a wellness-based science that encompasses a variety of components," says Sastry.
Other practitioners would be wont to point out that a discipline that is 6,000 years old would not have sustained were it a fallacious science or mere quackery. "Penicillin wasn't discovered until 1928. You think people weren't cured before that?" argues D C Katoch, joint advisor on Ayurveda at the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (Ayush). "Before the world came to know of penicillin, people were treated through natural methods. It's just that the quality parameters were different at the time," he says, while placing the Vedic discipline in the timeline of medical history.
Ancient as it is, practioners also say it is useful for modern times. Sudha Asokan, who has been running Dr Sudha's Ayurvedic Centre in Delhi's Safdarjung Enclave for 25 years, says that Ayurveda is the only branch of medicine that can help people overcome lifestyle diseases that have become so prevalent today. "We look at how we can improve the long-term health of a person," says Asokan. "In the age of immense pressure at the workplace, Ayurveda helps you manage your body effectively," she adds, pointing out how the Kerala massage treatments for spondylitis and arthritis help patients recover more quickly than allopathic medicines.
With lifestyle afflictions increasing, more people are turning to Ayurveda, which presents fewer side-effects than many modern medicines. According to estimates, the total Indian Ayurveda industry is valued at about Rs 8,000 crore and is growing substantially at 10-15 per cent annually. Along with small manufacturing units in the unorganised sector, the big players in the organised sector include Dabur, Himalaya and Zandu. In states such as Kerala - which has a thriving Ayurveda industry - some of the small players have a major presence.
But the tradition has come up for close scrutiny. While Ayurvedics claim their tradition does not have side-effects because natural substances cannot harm the human body, many researches have shown adulteration and admixture of heavy metals in Ayurvedic formulations. Several medicines have been tested for lead, mercury and arsenic. A 2012 report of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked Ayurvedic drugs to lead poisoning, based on cases where toxic materials were found in the blood of pregnant women who had taken Ayurvedic drugs.
"We've found that Ayurvedic drugs, if not taken in the right doses, can lead to severe complications in the body. In some drugs, the amount of metals is over 50 per cent," says a doctor at a government hospital who requested he not be named. "Also, Ayurveda is effective when it comes to niggling ailments. But saying that it can cure diseases such as cancer and epilepsy is fatuous," he adds. "These medicines can control a disease, not cure it." Equally ridiculous is the recent claim that Ayurveda can guarantee the birth of a male child.
Rohit Batra, a Delhi-based skin specialist, too says that "Ayurvedic drugs may work in the short-term, but with some of the metals they contain, usage in the long run is harmful".
While Sastry describes such a view as an "exaggeration", Katoch points out that the government has formulated standards for the manufacturing of Ayurveda drugs that need to be strictly adhered to. He shows me a red copy of the Ayurveda Pharmacopeia of India, which falls under the Drugs and Cosmetic Act and was first put together in 1983. "For every Ayurvedic drug that is available in the market, these standards have to be followed," he maintains. Drugs manufactured in Delhi, for example, undergo a check conducted by the state's Drug Control Department. Other states across the country have similar departments. Katoch, however, is not shy to admit that the enforcement of these standards remains a problem. Moreover, these standards do not cover private practitioners. "We cannot possibly keep a tab on what somebody is manufacturing and selling privately. Users must be careful with such drugs," says Katoch.
That is why, perhaps, the government is trying to standardise Ayurveda at all levels - starting with the introduction of a common BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) syllabus in universities that offer Ayurveda courses across the country. India currently has over 260 such colleges, and Katoch says that this number is only going to rise. In the past, the reliability of Ayurvedic physicians was often questioned, a problem that is likely to be overcome with the introduction of a common course.
A visit to one such college in Delhi shows that Ayurvedic courses do enjoy a following. At Santhigram Wellness Centre in Green Park, you can enroll yourself for a one-year Diploma in Ayurvedic Massage & Panchakarma Therapies as well as for other six-month certificate courses. A course at the centre costs an average of Rs 10,000. However, with the low eligibility criterion of a 10+2 pass, there is understandable apprehension about the kind of jobs that one can get after graduating from such schools. Katoch says that there is a demand for doctors who graduate from reputed institutions such as the National Institute of Ayurveda in Jaipur. "People are turning to Ayurveda, and there aren't enough doctors," he says. "So jobs are not a problem."
G Vinod Kumar, president of the Kerala-based Ayurvedic Medical Association of India, feels that the government must do more - primarily allocate more funds for research work. "They've set up a ministry, but more money needs to be pumped in to popularise Ayurveda," says Kumar. "Without the discovery of new medicinal plants, Ayurveda will be dead."
But the biggest concern about Ayurvedic medicines continues to be their efficacy. In the last 20 years, medical tests in the West have shown that Ayurvedic practices are irrational and outdated, and medicines hardly give the desired effect.
However, Sastry is convinced that Ayurveda will overtake modern medicine in the next 40 years. "Modern medicines have a reductive effect, while Ayurveda focuses more on the empirical effect. That's why a lot of people are switching to Ayurveda."
And, the Indian government wants to take it further. It not only talks of patents for Avurvedic formulations, but has also launched the National Ayush Mission and signed Memorandums of Understanding with Malaysia, Hungary and Mauritius with a promise to share expertise in Ayurveda. A special focus has been placed on the setting up manufacturing units under the National Medicine Plant Board. In the last one year alone, almost 170,000 hectares of land has been set aside for the cultivation of herbs. Ayurveda, effective or not, is here to stay.
Jain has been an Ayurveda practitioner for the last seven years. A consultation at his modest clinic costs Rs 300. "Ayureveda is the best natural cure for boosting immunity," he says afterwards.
It is the same at Gagandeep Singh's clinic in Patel Nagar. It teems with people even at 8 pm. Patients come to him from as far as Gurgaon for consultation. While the clinic officially closes at 9 pm, Singh often extends his work beyond normal hours to meet patients. His medicines - most of them formulations of the clinic itself - enjoy immense popularity among patients.
Ayurveda has had its detractors, particularly because of tall claims about its ability to cure diseases such as cancer, epilepsy, malaria, asthma and arthritis. But as the throngs at the clinics show, it continues to be popular with the masses. But can Ayurveda realistically do what some of the modern medicines are woefully struggling to do? More significantly, do we have enough evidence that these natural substances are effective?
JLN Sastry, head of healthcare research at Dabur, one of the country's top manufacturers of Ayurvedic products, says that the history of the science is well documented with over 25,000 ancient manuscripts available. There is no denying, he says, that these medicines provide better cures than modern medicines. It is a holistic health system that aims to bring total harmony in the human body. "Ayurveda is a wellness-based science that encompasses a variety of components," says Sastry.
Other practitioners would be wont to point out that a discipline that is 6,000 years old would not have sustained were it a fallacious science or mere quackery. "Penicillin wasn't discovered until 1928. You think people weren't cured before that?" argues D C Katoch, joint advisor on Ayurveda at the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (Ayush). "Before the world came to know of penicillin, people were treated through natural methods. It's just that the quality parameters were different at the time," he says, while placing the Vedic discipline in the timeline of medical history.
Ancient as it is, practioners also say it is useful for modern times. Sudha Asokan, who has been running Dr Sudha's Ayurvedic Centre in Delhi's Safdarjung Enclave for 25 years, says that Ayurveda is the only branch of medicine that can help people overcome lifestyle diseases that have become so prevalent today. "We look at how we can improve the long-term health of a person," says Asokan. "In the age of immense pressure at the workplace, Ayurveda helps you manage your body effectively," she adds, pointing out how the Kerala massage treatments for spondylitis and arthritis help patients recover more quickly than allopathic medicines.
With lifestyle afflictions increasing, more people are turning to Ayurveda, which presents fewer side-effects than many modern medicines. According to estimates, the total Indian Ayurveda industry is valued at about Rs 8,000 crore and is growing substantially at 10-15 per cent annually. Along with small manufacturing units in the unorganised sector, the big players in the organised sector include Dabur, Himalaya and Zandu. In states such as Kerala - which has a thriving Ayurveda industry - some of the small players have a major presence.
But the tradition has come up for close scrutiny. While Ayurvedics claim their tradition does not have side-effects because natural substances cannot harm the human body, many researches have shown adulteration and admixture of heavy metals in Ayurvedic formulations. Several medicines have been tested for lead, mercury and arsenic. A 2012 report of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked Ayurvedic drugs to lead poisoning, based on cases where toxic materials were found in the blood of pregnant women who had taken Ayurvedic drugs.
"We've found that Ayurvedic drugs, if not taken in the right doses, can lead to severe complications in the body. In some drugs, the amount of metals is over 50 per cent," says a doctor at a government hospital who requested he not be named. "Also, Ayurveda is effective when it comes to niggling ailments. But saying that it can cure diseases such as cancer and epilepsy is fatuous," he adds. "These medicines can control a disease, not cure it." Equally ridiculous is the recent claim that Ayurveda can guarantee the birth of a male child.
Rohit Batra, a Delhi-based skin specialist, too says that "Ayurvedic drugs may work in the short-term, but with some of the metals they contain, usage in the long run is harmful".
While Sastry describes such a view as an "exaggeration", Katoch points out that the government has formulated standards for the manufacturing of Ayurveda drugs that need to be strictly adhered to. He shows me a red copy of the Ayurveda Pharmacopeia of India, which falls under the Drugs and Cosmetic Act and was first put together in 1983. "For every Ayurvedic drug that is available in the market, these standards have to be followed," he maintains. Drugs manufactured in Delhi, for example, undergo a check conducted by the state's Drug Control Department. Other states across the country have similar departments. Katoch, however, is not shy to admit that the enforcement of these standards remains a problem. Moreover, these standards do not cover private practitioners. "We cannot possibly keep a tab on what somebody is manufacturing and selling privately. Users must be careful with such drugs," says Katoch.
That is why, perhaps, the government is trying to standardise Ayurveda at all levels - starting with the introduction of a common BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) syllabus in universities that offer Ayurveda courses across the country. India currently has over 260 such colleges, and Katoch says that this number is only going to rise. In the past, the reliability of Ayurvedic physicians was often questioned, a problem that is likely to be overcome with the introduction of a common course.
A visit to one such college in Delhi shows that Ayurvedic courses do enjoy a following. At Santhigram Wellness Centre in Green Park, you can enroll yourself for a one-year Diploma in Ayurvedic Massage & Panchakarma Therapies as well as for other six-month certificate courses. A course at the centre costs an average of Rs 10,000. However, with the low eligibility criterion of a 10+2 pass, there is understandable apprehension about the kind of jobs that one can get after graduating from such schools. Katoch says that there is a demand for doctors who graduate from reputed institutions such as the National Institute of Ayurveda in Jaipur. "People are turning to Ayurveda, and there aren't enough doctors," he says. "So jobs are not a problem."
G Vinod Kumar, president of the Kerala-based Ayurvedic Medical Association of India, feels that the government must do more - primarily allocate more funds for research work. "They've set up a ministry, but more money needs to be pumped in to popularise Ayurveda," says Kumar. "Without the discovery of new medicinal plants, Ayurveda will be dead."
But the biggest concern about Ayurvedic medicines continues to be their efficacy. In the last 20 years, medical tests in the West have shown that Ayurvedic practices are irrational and outdated, and medicines hardly give the desired effect.
However, Sastry is convinced that Ayurveda will overtake modern medicine in the next 40 years. "Modern medicines have a reductive effect, while Ayurveda focuses more on the empirical effect. That's why a lot of people are switching to Ayurveda."
And, the Indian government wants to take it further. It not only talks of patents for Avurvedic formulations, but has also launched the National Ayush Mission and signed Memorandums of Understanding with Malaysia, Hungary and Mauritius with a promise to share expertise in Ayurveda. A special focus has been placed on the setting up manufacturing units under the National Medicine Plant Board. In the last one year alone, almost 170,000 hectares of land has been set aside for the cultivation of herbs. Ayurveda, effective or not, is here to stay.