India
In India, Ayurveda (“science of life”) is the country’s most widely practised and acknowledged
traditional medicine. It includes several speciali
zations: general medicine, paediatrics, psychiatry,
otorhinolaryngology, surgery, toxicology, geriatri
cs and aphrodisiacs. Disease is considered to be a
consequence of psychophysiological and pathological changes in the organism due to an
imbalance between three bio-energies. Therapies aim
to restore balance by re-establishing the
coordination between the patient’s body, mind and consciousness. This is either done with
purification treatments (using medical oils, pur
gatives, enemas or bloodletting) and soothing
treatments (herbal therapies to strengthen the
immune system, and rejuvenation therapies), which
are complemented by yoga, meditation, prayer
s and chanting. In 2003 the Indian Government
established the AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unan
i, Siddha and Homeopathy) Department, which is
tasked with developing AYUSH educational standards and research, quality control and
standardization of drugs used in traditional medicine, and raising public awareness about its
relevance. Today, Ayurveda is practised alongsi
de modern medicine in around 3,000 hospitals and
20,000 dispensaries. It also has its own dedicated health care and research centres, and is taught
in about 400 undergraduate and postgraduate colleges.
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