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Traditional healers showcase their skills

BHUBANESWAR: Vasudev Mutuga form Orissa’s Rayagada district claims he can cure critical diseases pertaining to paralysis using herbal medicines. Santan Deo, Ayurbedic doctor of erstwhile Keonjhar kingdom, says he has the medicine for all kidney-related problems.

Neither Mr. Mutuga nor Mr. Deo is a qualified doctor. However, it is the indigenous knowledge, which they have been putting into practice for generations, that makes them confident to treat critical diseases.

Several Vaidyas, traditional healers, got together here to showcase their skills as well as drugs at the Confluence-2008, organised by city-based voluntary organisation, Sambandh.

“I receive 15 to 20 patients daily. Though most of them are villagers, many were educated. My practice is gradually attracting people from urban centres,” Mr. Mutuga said. About 500 varieties of drugs out of which 20 were only registered under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) were on display at the Confluence-2008.

Trade value of the traditional health care practices and herbal medicines in Orissa would be more than Rs. 60 crore, president of Sambandh Bibhu Kalyan Mohanty said.

Despite the fact that the traditional health care was gaining acceptability, most of the Vaidyas still continued to struggle in poverty and starvation and they had to fight another problem – environmental degradation causing loss of raw materials, Mr. Mohanty said.

“We intend to make our Vaidyas undertake sustainable harvesting of medicinal plants, adopt GMP and understand the various factors affecting prices and products,” he said. According to Sambandh, as many as 41 endangered species of medicinal plants have been identified in Orissa. Twenty-eight of these are marked to be vulnerable while two species were at doorstep of extinction.

Trade in medicinal plants was highly complex as it involved different individuals at different levels in the marketing channel, a top forest official said.

The sector is plagued by several reasons. As many as 167 farmers registered themselves with State Medicinal Plant Board (SMPB) to undertake medicinal plantations during the year 2007-2008. It is, however, alleged most of them wanted to take advantage of assistance extended by government to promote the cultivation while they are not serious. Despite several constraints, about 1540 traditional healers, who so far have been identified in Orissa, are carrying on the practices, with a hope that some day it would get its due recognition.

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