Traditional healers across the country today formed a pan-India forum that would press upon the government to recognise time-tested medicinal practices that are beyond the purview of Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy, noting that the meritorious among them deserved administrative patronage.
A Traditional Healers Meet at the ongoing World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) saw practitioners of ancient treatment systems constituting a National Coordination Committee for joint efforts in realising their goals of recognition as mainstream medicines and ending the conventional administrative and social apathy to their methods of cure.
Organised by the Department of AYUSH under the Union Health Ministry in association with the World Ayurveda Foundation and Delhi Government, the sixth WAC had traditional healers revealing their professional techniques and the science behind their age-old practices.
Professor G Hariramamurthi, who is the coordinator of the two-day meet that concluded today, said the new government was "the last ray of hope" for the traditional healers.
"This is more so, given that many of them are well into their 70s and 80s," added the Bangalore-based scholar.
Experts from various parts of the country - specialising in traditional ethno-veterinary sciences, paediatrics, bone-setting and treatment of asthma, prolapse of the uterus, eye diseases, wheezing and seizures - sat together and made power-point and oral presentations. They sought accreditation by a competent body and propagation of their practices.
N Tombi Raj of the North Eastern Institute of Folk Medicine in Arunachal Pradesh said the central government should facilitate stronger research into traditional healing techniques.
"This would enable the contemporary mindset to gain trust in our age-old medicinal systems," he added.
Kerala's Thaddesha Parambarya Chikitsa Vibhagam (TPCV) submitted a memorandum seeking the deserving promotion of ancient systems such as varma chikitsa, laada vaidya and uzhichil of the south-western state.
"Our medicinal systems can be tried in other parts of India with intelligent variation in its inputs that would ensure its efficacy in tune with the local climate," said TPCV president P Y Jacob Vaidyar.
