One fine early morning, one my urologist friend from Mumbai called me and started complaining.....you ever know how many patients I see with renal failures due to long term consumption of your so called 'innocent' antidiabetic ayurvedic supplements? Just like a typical 'experienced' Ayurveda expert, I aggressively denied and keep singing our great legacy of Ayurveda and you 'modern doctors' are jealous of increasing popularity of Ayurveda and what not! but he was firm and steady as a rock on his statement. I had never experienced such case in my 15 years of clinical practice at one of the largest and oldest Ayurveda hospital of the country at Jamnagar, So I was firm on my side as well. But as a scientist, I could not deny his words and so started to dig the problem. I asked him to give the addresses and contact numbers of all the patients which he was seeing for renal problems due to Ayurveda medicines as per his claim.

I met almost all of them and was stunned after going through their medical history! Almost all patients were chronic cases of diabetes of more than 10 years and were mostly relying on Ayurveda medicines. Honestly, I was happy for their love and affection for the age old science of Ayurveda and so obviously feeling more responsible for their condition. When I asked them about their family Vaidya or the Ayurveda diabetologist whom they were consulting, none of them had ever met any clinically trained qualified Ayurveda Vaidya! They were getting the medicines from nearby medical or Ayurveda medical store or even from kirana store and the medicines they were consuming had good amount of mercury, arsenic or lead in Bhasma forms!

Here comes the villain of the story. None of the medical store or kirana store who are freely dispensing these medicine had qualified Ayurveda pharmacist! Few of them were followers of various Babaji and getting their medicines from the Aashram stores or outlets where no qualified Vaidya or pharmacists were available.

Likewise, patients who suffer from chronic ailments like various skin disorders, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis are always in search for some magical cure of their ills. And being to oldest system of medicine, they come to Ayurveda. According to a survey, 65 per cent patients go to a shop and “try” medicines. Most of the news papers and internet offers free prescriptions for such disorders and thus it is even easier for a patient to get the name of the concerned medicine and purchase it from a medical shop. As it is a common myth that Ayurveda medicines are safe and do not have any side effects.

Can you believe this? In India, there are more than 500 big Ayurveda hospitals including government hospitals and health centres, 1,00,000 plus Ayurveda medical stores and almost all modern medical stores keep Ayurveda medicines nowadays and hardly any of them has qualified Ayurveda pharmacists! Have you ever heard of any modern medical store without qualified pharmacist? No, because we have enough modern pharmacy colleges in the country. And according to Pharmacy Act it is essential to have a qualified pharmacist in any of these stores. But, unfortunately neither they are taught about Ayurveda medicines nor we have enough number of qualified Ayurveda pharmacists in the country. There are only 8 Ayurveda pharmacy colleges in India at the moment. And the Pharmacy Bill is yet pending since last 10 years where it is mandatory to have a qualified Ayurveda pharmacist to dispense Ayurveda drugs.

Many Ayurveda medicines contain heavy metals in purified and Bhasma forms which are generally prescribed for short term therapy. They are just like steroids in action. Very less dose, quick action and tasteless. But always need to be consumed under the supervision of a qualified Vaidya or pharmacist. There are many 'poisonous' drugs used in Ayurveda like Aconitum, Dhatura or Semicarpus Anacardium which goes through several processes of purification and Samskaran before actual drug administration. And in classical books of Ayurveda it is clearly mentioned that this drugs are for short terms. Not for longer duration. So diabetics should not consume these medicines for the life time. I would like to quote few Ayurveda medicines which contains mercury or lead and should not be taken for more than a stipulated time. According to the guidance of government of India, drugs containing following ingredients must be consumed under strict medical supervision of Ayurveda expert.

Following list is examples of few popular drugs which are being taken as self medication by the patients. But it must be consumed under medical supervision of a qualified Ayurveda expert:

• Vaat Vidhvamsana Rasa
• Makardhvaja
• Aarogyavardhini Rasa
• Yogaraja guggulu
• Mahayograj guggulu
• Tribhuvan Kirti Rasa
• Bruhad or Laghu Suvarna Vasant Malini Rasa
• Laxmivilas Rasa
• Panchamrita Parpati
• Tamra Bhasma
• Trivanga Bhasma
• Simhanada Guggulu
• SamirPannaga Rasa
• Chandraprabha Vati
• Swasakuthar Rasa

Standard text books of Ayurveda mention that Ayurvedic drugs, if improperly used can be toxic. Charaka states in the Sutrasthana of the Charaka Sarnhita - A potent poison also becomes the best drug on proper administration. On the contrary, even the best drug becomes a potent poison if used badly.

The solution of the problem is there should be a law that every Ayurveda medical store must have a qualified Ayurvaidya or Ayurveda pharmacist. Gujarat is pioneer in the field of pharmacy education and we have the first pharmacy college of the world at Jamnagar. One may not believe but the students of this college are in high demand that most of them get appointed before they have mark sheet in their hand!

The Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy Pharmacy Council Bill was introduced in 2005 in the Parliament. The Bill was aimed at to regulate education and practice of pharmacists in Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (Ayush), as there was no standardisation and uniform education system of curriculum available for training pharmacists in the sector. The standing committee attached to the health ministry examined and submitted the report in July 2006, but it has been pending ever since.

We must beware. We must not wait for a thalidomide like tragedy in Ayurveda to shake us out of our complacence that Ayurvedic drugs are safe! or who knows, such tragedies have already happened but unfortunately they have not been reported.