The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Call for supporting alternative medicine

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Sunday, Mar 30, 2008
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Karnataka - Bangalore

Call for supporting alternative medicine

Staff Reporter

70 gold medals presented

Support Ayurveda, Homoeopathy and Unani,
says P.B. Desai
‘They benefit large sections of society’

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

laurels: Ayesha of M.R. Medical College, Gulbarga (right), who bagged eight gold medals in MBBS, at the convocation of RGUHS, in Bangalore on Saturday.

BANGALORE: Professionals and people in power should support alternative systems of medicine such as Ayurveda, Homoeopathy and Unani, which benefit a large number of people, said the former Director of Tata Memorial Institute P.B. Desai.

Delivering the 10th convocation address at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences here on Saturday, Dr. Desai said the 4,000-year-old Indian medicine is quoted widely when the history of medicine is discussed. However, like so many other “precious heritage” issues, we cannot be proud that there were “greats in our past culture”. Over the periods, the ancient art and science of Ayurveda has lost its way, he said.

“The disdain with which practitioners of modern medicine treat ‘alternative medicine’ is not only unjustified but conveys a lack of education, understanding and tolerance,” he said. Dr. Desai asked professionals and people in power to work together and raise the standards of alternative medicine by education, research and service. Alternative medicine, which serves a large number of people, needs all the support and help. Ancient techniques need more scientific inputs and should be provided with adequate infrastructure for realising its full potential, he said.

With the rapid progress in technology, Dr. Desai said, medicine was now at the crossroads and a decision has to be made as to “how far we should go to eliminate sickness and ill health, increase our life span ….” Limitless life will cease to be beautiful as there will be no deadlines, tensions and sentiments. “I strongly believe that we have no right to alter the evolutionary processes evolved by nature over a million years,” he said

Gold medals

Dr. Desai then presented 70 gold medals to students who have completed MBBS, BDS, BAMS and postgraduate medicine courses. Ayesha, from M.R. Medical College, Gulbarga, received eight gold medals, while Lakshmi Pallavi K. from A.B. Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences, Mangalore, and Gaurav Munjal of SDM College of Ayurverda, Hassan, received three gold medals each.

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