In the wake of union government’s deliberation for introduction of ‘Bridge Course’ for Ayush practitioners for rural services in allopathy, the Chennai-based Centre for Traditional Medicines and Research (CTMR) has sent one proposal to the central and state governments that instead of introducing the bridge course the government must consider to increase the number of co-location centres under the National Health Mission (NHM) scheme.
 
“As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, there is no need for training the Siddha community in modern medicine to assign them for rural services because almost all the rural PHCs are having adequate number of MBBS doctors. Similar is the case in Kerala also, where the rural population is getting sufficient healthcare.  Ayush graduates, especially the Siddha and Ayurveda, are mostly in Tamil Nadu and in Kerala”, says the proposal.
 
In this respect, in the case of Tamil Nadu, government must increase the co-location centres where both ayush and allopathy medications can be availed by the rural public on their choice or as suggested by the practitioners in a holistic approach to healthcare. Further, this will help for greater cooperation between Siddha physicians and modern doctors in providing healthcare to the patients coming to the PHCs, said Dr T Thirunarayanan, secretary of CTMR.

The NHM scheme, which was introduced in 2005 as National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), had envisaged a plan to co-locating allopathy and Ayush health services at one centre for the benefit of the ailing masses in the rural villages. But it has not taken place ubiquitously in all villages in states where there is large number of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (Ayush) practitioners.

“All over Tamil Nadu, 1,600 public health centres are working in the total 32 revenue districts. Out of this, only 450 have co-location facilities and many of these are in urban areas. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, there is no need at present for the proposed Bridge Course. If the number of co-location centres is increased or converted all PHCs into co-location centres, the practitioners of each system will stick on their own mode of treatment and people can avail healthcare facilities of both the systems. The state has adequate number of modern doctors and Siddha graduates,” he said.

When informed the difficulties in attracting modern doctors to rural health services, the Siddha expert has commented that if the health authorities feel it necessary to train Ayush people for village PHCs in the wake of shortage of MBBS graduates, either in Tamil Nadu or in north Indian states, Ayush physicians can be trained for that. During their course of study, they learn anatomy, physiology, bio-chemistry, micro-biology, clinical pathology in addition to the training in clinical medicine, that is, proper diagnosis and management of disease (treatment).

The only lacuna he finds in Ayush education is that the Siddha, Ayurveda and Unani doctors are not trained in modern pharmacology at graduate level. However, they learn properties of medicine (Dravyaguna) during their course. When they are trained for modern approach of treatment, they can easily comprehend the things and become able to prescribe medications, he told Pharmabiz.