A letter to the health minister

The latest topic was herbal medicines. Sir, this is one sector I believe, has a lot of potential but has not yet been steered in the right direction. I'm an allopathic doctor who had had the privilege of working at the Government Unani and Ayurvedic Degree College for long nine years. The students are eager and intelligent but they have a sort of frustration working inside them. They do not want to be called hekim or kabiraj, they want to be called doctors. This I felt was sad as the whole idea was to bring this branch of medicine forward and give it due respect and recognition. Many may not agree with me but I feel if you call them by these names ( hekim and kabiraj) the first thing that comes to mind is that it's an alternative medicine. So people are aware of what kind of a practitioner they are going to, and side-by-side the existence of alternative medicine is aptly recognised. The other thing that I would like to mention is the quality of teachers ( Unani and Ayurvedic) we have for these students. I feel for at least the next 5 years we need reputable teachers from abroad (India, China etc) to come and teach not only the students but the teachers as well. Sending the teachers abroad doesn't really help much. To adjust to the new environment and to grasp the subject matter takes time. They come back a little wiser but not enlightened. The syllabus that's followed also needs to be rectified. Even though allopathic doctors teach basic subjects, the students also have to go through basic subjects taught in the light of Unani and Ayurvedic which doesn't really make much sense, especially in the case of anatomy. Before I left we had somehow managed to get things changed a bit. Now it has been several years and I cannot give you the real picture.

Unani and Ayurvedic medicines have been a part of the treatment procedure in our subcontinent for a long time. We need to uphold its prestige, make people aware of it, have faith in it and give it due respect. All this will be possible only if people like you take a personal interest and look into the curriculum and help strengthen the existing teaching staff, so that they can do justice to this branch of medicine, to the patients and above all to themselves.