SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2007 Edition

 

 

INDIA’S traditional medicine sector is growing. In 1947, its total national turnover was said to be less than Rs 50 crores. In 2007, the traditional medicine sector is estimated to be around Rs 8,000 crores. The sector is growing at the rate of approximately 20 per cent every year. If larger strategic investments are made in R&D to establish the safety, quality and efficacy of traditional knowledge products, therapeutic procedures and services, the sector can grow exponentially because then the country’s exports will also boom. Today R&D investments in traditional medicine are neither substantial nor strategic. Good strategy would mean directing research investments tothe top five public health problems and the top five global health needs. It would also mean investing funds not only in drug research but also on validating the extremely sophisticated traditional knowledge related to food and nutrition, drinking water, immunity, maternity care, detoxification procedures (panchakarma) and mental health. Adequate and sustained funding should replace sub-critical, short-erm funds. Competent research centres, which may be in the not-for-profit sector and in reputed educational institutions, need to besupported and encouraged instead of pumping most of the tax-payer’s money into government institutions that lack vision, leadership and motivation.

Why is this sector growing? The answer to this question becomes evident when one analyses recent health-seeking behaviour. Studies reveal that in urban centres of developed and developing countries more than 40 per cent of the population seeks help for their health needs from a complementary system of healthcare because they realise that no single system can provide a satisfactory solution to all their health problems. At times, in developed societies, traditional healthcare services are not supported by insurance companies. Even so, the customer has been paying from his own pocket. In rural areas of our country, however, the scenario is mixed. In remote districts the population almost exclusively relies on traditional healthcare, but this is because there is no choice. In small towns, taluka and district headquarters, particularly in northern states, traditional health services are on the decline because people are conditioned into believing that modern medicine is more efficient in all matters of healthcare. Over time this conditioning is likely to wear off and larger sections of even the rural populations will begin to realise that every system has its strengths and weaknesses and ideally one needs access to several mature systems of healthcare. The global healthcare scenario is thus undergoing a paradigm shift and is moving rapidly towards an emerging era of medical pluralism. Medical pluralism poses huge challenges to policy-makers and intellectualsbecause combining different medical knowledge systems is a complex task. It cannot be done mechanically. There areseveral epistemological, ethical and operational issues to get sorted out. These will probably be set right in the next few decadesbecause pluralistic healthcare appears to be here to stay.

Is the current growth of the traditional medicine sector and its future trends pointing towards inclusive growth? The answer is clearly no! This is evident from the closed holding pattern of the traditional medicine manufacturing sector. It is also evident from the way medicinal plants, which constitute the raw material base of the sector, are collected and cultivated. The benefits from the sale of raw materials arecornered by traders and the primary collectors and cultivators barely get a subsistence wage. It is also evident from the nature ofmarket demands on traditional knowledge products and services. These show a distinct pull towards the needs of the affluent sections of society. Wellness centres, health clubs, resorts and five star hospitals guide the direction of healthcare investments. Exclusive growth is also evident from the themes on which the government uses its funds for R&D and its subsidies for cultivation of export-oriented medicinal plants grown by big farmers who need no subsidy. What would be the operational implications of inclusive growth? If one were to implement strategies so that at least 10 per cent of the industry consists of community-owned herbal enterprises, 60 per cent of medicinal plant cultivation and wild collection is in the hands of small and marginal farmer and landless labour cooperatives, 30 per cent of the R&D investments are directed to developing standards for primary healthcare herbal products, 50 per cent of public health funding is for traditional medicine solutions for malaria, anemia, leprosy and tuberculosis, one could consciously move towards inclusive growth. On the government’s part, its Ayush department and the Planning Commission along with the banking sector, national and international development funding agencies and socially responsible companies should all set their priorities and commit financial resources to support this kind of inclusive growth. It will not happen through sentimental lamentations about glaring gaps. These laments will remain mere sound bytes in space if change does not take place on the ground.

Darshan Shankar is director of the Foundation for the Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions, Bangalore.

Want to give feedback on this article

Name Email Subject Feedback (Not more than 250 character)

 

Disclaimer

The views expressed here are strictly personal and civilsocietyonline.com does not necessarily subscribe to them. We shall endeavour to upload/publish as many of the comments that are submitted as possible within a reasonable span of time, but we do not guarantee that all comments that are submitted will be uploaded/published. Messages that harass, abuse or threaten other members; have obscene, unlawful, defamatory, libellous, hateful, or otherwise objectionable content; or have spam, commercial or advertising content or links are liable to be removed by the editors. We also reserve the right to edit the comments that do get published. Please do not post any private information unless you want it to be available publicly.

 

About Us | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | ©2007 Civil Society

.
........................................Webmaster Vishwanathan ( vishu4@rediffmail.com )