Cybele, founded in 1997, has fashioned the pioneering action plan considering that a holistic ayurveda cure to mental and physical ailments requires a physician-patient interaction spanning no less than six hours.

The recently-devised regimen guarantees wellness over a year’s time, based on a string of treatment given to a patient based on his or her email responses to a comprehensive list of 20 questions on the portal (http://www.cybelelife.com/).

‘Today’s world doesn’t give people sufficient time to consult with the ayurveda doctor. Nonetheless, it requires sufficient knowledge about the patient’s parameters, lifestyle, environment, heredity and social relations among others. Our questionnaire aims to know the relevant history and present of the patient,’ said P.N. Balaram, chief executive officer of the company based here.

It took 14 years for a group of experts with Cybele to pore over 1,18,000 codified pages of ayurveda manuals to arrive at ‘NaturWell’, which also takes yoga into account. The mission started in 1999 under an endocrinologist along with a team of doctors.

The documentation work was completed in 2010 and the software was developed by an American group Natural Solution Foundation (NSF), which incorporated all the compiled ayurvedic knowledge.The 365-day personalised health regimen is divided on the principles of ‘Rasayana’ (energizing), and features four stages lasting three months each. 

What is Ayurveda? 

Ayurveda is an ancient Hindu system of traditional medicine which uses diet, herbs and yoga to cure ailments. It is now considered a part of alternative medicine and has gained popularity all over the world. Ayurveda believes that when all our doshas are in a state of equilibrium, we arrive at a balanced state of the body, mind and spirit. Vata, pitta and kapha are the three doshas or constitutional types in Ayurveda.

Source: IANS

Doctors at the Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital and Research Centre near Kochi assert that ayurveda can easily cure many eye diseases without surgery.y

‘Before we came in, there was no ayurvedic medicine in this field,’ says NPP Namboothiri, the hospital’s managing director and chief physician. ‘We have become the pioneers.’

Kerala draws every year tens of thousands of Indians and foreigners in search of ayurvedic treatment. But few beyond Kerala appear to know what ayurveda can do in the field of ophthalmology.

Eye diseases are rampant today, caused in part by long hours of work on computers, poor eating habits, long and frequent journeys, inadequate hours of sleep and so on.

Eye disorders can also result from watching TV for long hours, reading small print continuously, inappropriate head position while lying on the bed, heavy sneezing and even overindulgence in sex.

Television is to blame for most myopic disorders in children.

‘Many of these diseases can be completely cured through simple treatments we offer,’ Namboothiri told IANS at his office, which is part of the family’s ancestral home.

Hailing from a family of ayurvedic practitioners, Namboothiri set up Sreedhareeyam with five beds in 1999. It has expanded to 350 beds and also gets around 200 daily patients.

The hospital is located at a site where the Namboothiri family ran an informal clinic for a very long time.

Sreedhareeyam has 16 centres in Kerala and elsewhere in India, including major cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Chennai.

In Kerala, it also has a presence in Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Thodupuzha and Thiruvananthapuram.

Unlike earlier times when many turned to ayurveda only as the last resort, today many prefer ayurvedic ophthalmic treatment right away, doctors with Sreedhareeyam say.

‘Early detection of eye ailments helps in faster and better recovery,’ Namboothiri said. ‘If treated early, ayurveda strengthens the nervous system and prevents degeneration of the optic nerves.’

According to him, even complicated and rare diseases that affect the optic nerve and retina that lead to blindness can be treated with great success with ayurveda.

‘Thousands of people are today resorting to ayurveda for effective cure,’ he said.

Major eye diseases treated at Sreedhareeyam include diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataract and detachment of retina. The hospital also manufactures all medicines and formulations utilised in eye and other treatment.

Shalakya Tantra is the branch of ayurveda that deals with ailments above the neck. Ayurvedic texts deal with 76 eye, 28 ear and 31 nose diseases.

Sreedhareeyam boasts of a large collection of ancient ayurvedic manuscripts of medicinal preparations and treatment methods.

These inscriptions in old Tamil and Malayalam are on palm leaves and have been handed down by ancestors of the Namboothiri family.

‘We even treat and cure eye problems not normally curable by other medical sciences. Today, our hospital has brought new respect to the science of ayurvedic ophthalmology,’ Namboothiri says.

Source: IANS

 ‘Our age halt programme, launched in 2012, has sparked huge interest among the tourists both in India and abroad. It is a unique product that combines ayurvedic treatment and travel,’ said KTDC Managing Director N. Prashant. ‘Age Halt is a combination of both recreation and treatment. A tourist who opts for a rejuvenation package at one place can move to other properties of KTDC without any interruption under continuous medical supervision,’ he said.

‘We had organised special road shows in the Middle East last year, and the Arabs are now coming to Kerala for the treatment of lifestyle diseases. They (Arabs) are tempted by the sight of rainfall,’ he noted. He also said that the KTDC is setting up a drive-in beach resort at a beach in Kannur district, which will be the largest in Asia.Overall, Kerala recorded 7.9 lakh international and one crore domestic arrivals in 2012. Kerala Tourism Director Rani George said ayurveda, as a tourism product, has great prospects in the Middle East, Australia and Russia, besides traditional markets in Germany.

Source: IANS

The only clause it has is that the patient should avail treatment in either a government hospital or an institute recognized by the government. Another option for patients is that they may choose to be treated in centres recognized by the QCI (Quality Council of India) or NABH (National Accreditation Board of Health) or any other suitable institution.

Dr GS Lavekar, senior consultant and former DG at the department of AYUSH, says that in the previous years the inclusion of Ayurveda, Homeopathy and other forms ofmedicine  into the health insurance policies was impossible, but today, the IRDA has recognized the potential of these types of treatment modalities. He further added that this result is an outcome of a joint effort taken by the industry, the Ministry of Health and Department of AYUSH, especially by the then secretary of the department, S Jalja.  

Though the industry is very happy, insiders feel that the inclusion may take some time to be added into the current insurance covers as the medical and insurance companies might not want the inclusion to be made.  Prabodh Shah, president, Gujarat Ayurvedic Aushadh Manufacturers Association (GAAMA), said, ‘This is a great news for us, especially since more and more patients now will be able to take the benefit of Ayurvedic treatment, giving more credibility and recognition to our industry. But at the same time, we fear that the insurance company will take their own time in adopting this regulation creating problems for us.’

Although practitioners feel that including the AYUSH system of medication into insurance policies may take a bit of time, there are a few companies that have already taken a step towards implementing the new inclusion. Companies like  National Insurance Company, Star Health and Allied Insurance, L&T General Insurance have already started offering insurance cover for patients wishing to get treated under  AYUSH . Click here to read more about the hospitals that will offer this service.

 Health.India.com view:

The new inclusion may be the best thing that has happened to health insurance policy holders in a long time. Being able to avail of treatment under alternative medical practices could be a boon for many. It has been seen in a number of cases that those ailments that usually require surgery or some other drastic intervention under the allopathic method, are cured almost painlessly by alternate systems of medicine.  With all the positives outlined in this policy, there are a few drawbacks as well. For starters, finding an AYUSH hospital or center that is QCI or NABH accredited is going to be tough for the common man. Secondly, a number of government hospitals do have functioning Ayurveda and homeopathy centers, but what quality of care can the consumer hope for? Lastly, there are a number of centers that are highly recognized for providing exemplary treatment but are not accredited by any of the mentioned bodies. Will this inclusion in the mediclaim policies see a sudden increase in the number of requests to be recognized by the NABH? All in all this inclusion is a welcome change in insurance policies, but how much and how quickly will this change really help the common man, is yet to be seen. 

Thanks to them, Kerala is today home to authentic ayurveda, attracting tens of thousands of patients not only from India but all over the globe. Due to royal patronage, the early ayurveda physicians saw patients for free. When people got cured, many patients presented vegetables or fruits to the doctors to express their gratitude. ‘There were no ready-made medicines then,’ recalls Narayanan Nambi, seated in his clinic located in a traditional Namboodiri home in a leafy part of East Fort in Thrissur district.

‘People would come to my grandfather for consultation. The diseases were very ordinary then. My grandfather charged no fees,’ Nambi told IANS, his Malayalam translated into English by his daughter-in-law Devi Narayanan, also an ayurveda doctor. ‘Physicians then mostly prepared some of the medicines. Or they would simply write down the names of herbs which the patient procured on his own and readied the medicine at home.’ He added: ‘I am proud of my lineage.’

Today, Nambi says, only seven or eight of the original 18 Ashatnga Vaidya families – those who had mastered all eight strands of ayurveda – remain. Ayurveda was born thousands of years ago, with its fundamentals to be found in the ancient Hindu scriptures, Vedas. Nambi’s family has a photo of the great-grandfather’s brother who was a reputed physician.

‘Since then, we have photographic evidence of everyone,’ says Devi Narayanan. The family also proudly possesses a book on Ayurveda written by a member around 600 years ago. Unlike his father and forefathers, Narayanan Nambi is the first among Ashtanga Vaidyas to have attended one of the colleges of Ayurveda that now have thousands on their rolls. And in the 54 years he has practised, the family estimates, he would have seen – and mostly cured – a staggering 72,000 patients so far.

He also spent several years in the US and Germany, popularizing ayurveda in both the countries. How and why has ayurveda flourished all these years while so many Indian traditions have withered away? ‘This is because ayurveda was never considered a business. For a long time it was considered a service,’ Nambi explained. Now, however, physicians charge fees since there is no more royal patronage. There is no choice. Also, herbs have to be bought today unlike the olden times when one could pluck them from the wild at will.

‘The situation has changed. Today, ayurveda is a business to many,’ he said, referring to those who do not practise its authentic and original stream and instead sell wellness ayurveda to Indians and foreigners. Nambi’s three sons have embraced ayurveda. And daughter-in-law Devi Narayanan gives a broad smile when asked if her two sons – now aged four-and-a-half and two – will do so too. ‘I do expect them to carry forward the tradition,’ the woman doctor told IANS but not sounding very confident. ‘It won’t be easy though.’

Source: IANS

‘Sri Lanka has slowly come up as a threat to our market,’ said Sanjeev Kurup V., Secretary of the influential Kerala Travel Mart Society who also runs the Paithrukam Hospitality Group. ‘I was in Sri Lanka only last week, and I estimate they have taken away 30-40 percent of our business,’ Kurup told IANS at the Perumbayil Ayurveda Mana, an idyllic centre located near the famed Guruvayoor temple.

Ayurveda plays a key role in attracting close to one million foreign and over ten million domestic tourists every year to Kerala. Almost 70 percent of the foreigners and 30-40 percent of Indian tourists come to Kerala for ayurvedic treatment. Thanks to ayurveda, the average stay of a foreigner in Kerala is 18 days – one of the highest in the world.

According to Kurup and others in the industry, even earlier Sri Lanka was doing well in the business of ayurveda. But the long running conflict between Colombo and the Tamil Tigers did cast a shadow on tourism in general. ‘After the war ended in 2009, ayurveda business is picking up rapidly in Sri Lanka,’ said Kurup, who saw for himself that ayurveda clinics had sprouted along the island nation’s south-western coast, the tourist hub.

For one, as the Sri Lankan rupee is weaker than its Indian counterpart, ayurvedic treatment is cheaper there compared to India. Another reason, Kurup says, is that in Sri Lanka many clinics allow men to provide ayurvedic massage to women. ‘Well, ladies from countries like Germany, even if they are 45 years of age or more, are pretty strong physically, and they somehow don’t seem happy with our women,’ he said. ‘But in Kerala we follow the authentic system of ayurveda, and that only permits same-sex treatment including in massage.’

Sri Lanka is willing to deviate – if only to woo the Western tourist, mainly from Europe. ‘We need to be aware of the emerging trends,’ Kurup said. ‘Our costs are going up, but we cannot and do not compromise on quality. Sri Lanka is able to market an entire ayurveda packet for about just 90 euros a day.’ In comparison, some clinics in Kerala charge up to 300-400 euros a day.

Kurup said the Kerala government as well as the private industry were both aware of the Sri Lanka threat. A senior Kerala government official said the Sri Lanka challenge was real but it need not be overstated. ‘Yes, Sri Lanka is also making a pitch for ayurveda,’ Suman Billa, Secretary in Kerala Tourism, told IANS in a telephonic interview. ‘But their growth won’t be at our expense,’ he said. ‘Our ayurveda is so unique. And there is enough space in ayurveda business for more players to get in.’

‘Sri Lanka will certainly draw tourists. As long as we stick to our quality and play our game well, we will not only be able to protect ourselves but grow too. But we should not get into a situation of price wars.’

Source: IANS

The seminar is being organized by the state health and family welfare department and is being attended by more than 500 participants of all fields of medical and health from different parts of the country. The minister said that a platform is required where all systems of medicine and health can learn from one another while maintaining their uniqueness, and holistic health is an integrated approach pertaining to every aspect of health care, including the physical, psychological, spiritual and social needs of people. 

‘No healthcare system alone in the world can survive by concentrating only on curative aspect of diseases. Therefore, an inter-departmental coordinated approach between various disciplines like allopathy, ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, home remedies, unani, homeopathy and allied therapies (like physiotherapy, laughter therapy, etc. should be the prime focus. Thus integration is the future of the holistic health,’ he said. Walia also cautioned that human health cannot be dissociated from the health of environment. 

Source: IANS

Among initiatives taken is the setting up of the Centre for Research in Indian System of Medicine (CRISM) under the National Centre for Natural Products Research (NCNPR), University of Mississippi, US, to facilitate collaborative research and disseminate information on Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medicines. The department also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charite University, Berlin (Germany), to conduct a collaborative research on effectiveness and safety of Ayurveda as a treatment system. An Indo-US interactive meet was organised on AYUSH research to explore the feasibility to conduct joint Indo-US Ayurveda research and to facilitate Ayurveda’s entry into mainstream US medicine, the official added.

Apart from this, the health minister of Malaysia visited the AYUSH department and discussed various issues pertaining to cooperation on traditional systems of medicine, the official said. 

Source: IANS

The mantra of Niramaya had won the National Tourism Award in 2003-04 for the best publication in English. Kumar also rleased two other e-books — one on the socio-cultural history of Kerala and another on yoga and healthy living. Published by IT solutions provider Invis Multimedia, the four e-books will be available at online stores for purchase for easy reading on e-book readers, mobile phones or computer screens. The digitisation of the four coffee table books was sponsored by Kerala Tourism. Those buying the Ayurveda e-books will get a free e-brochure on Kerala Tourism. 

Source: IANS

Many people are now taking to leech therapy to treat conditions ranging from blood pressure to gout, from healing wounds to even hair fall. Only the medicinal leeches are used for treatment, which are brown, red striped and olive-coloured. ‘The therapy has a lot many advantages, without any side effects. It is a major therapeutic tool and helps in many blood-related diseases. It also minimises the chances of blood rejection in blood transfusion cases,’ ayurveda specialist Ravi Raghuvanshi told IANS.

Describing the therapy as ‘safe and advantageous’, Raghuvanshi said the treatment is already ‘very popular’ in the West. ‘The therapy is very popular in the West particularly in countries like the US and Germany. The reason is there is good awareness in the West as a lot of research has been done on the subject.’ ‘In India, where the therapy originated, there is hardly any awareness or much research, though the practice dates back 5,000 years. The knowledge has not been transferred well. The popularity is also scattered. Only 300-400 people every year in Delhi and NCR use leech therapy,’ Raghuvanshi said.

In 2008, the union health ministry decided to recognise leech therapy to treat a range of diseases, including eczema, gangrene, vascular reconstruction and vascular surgery in chronic wounds. The technique is in vogue in Jammu and Kashmir, coastal Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and some parts of Gujarat. Now the therapy is also practised in some clinics across metropolitan cities like Delhi and Mumbai. Divya Sharma, 47, a resident of east Delhi’s Rohini area, says she found the treatment very effective and life-saving. ‘I had suffered serious injury to my legs in an accident some months back. The wounds turned gangrenous and doctors said they might have to amputate my legs if the injury does not heal. Then a friend advised me to try leech therapy. After I started it, my injuries began to get better day by day. The doctors said no operation was required.’

‘The therapy is usually done on patients with rheumatoid arthritis, skin disorders and even in cases of hair fall. People suffering from bleeding disorders are not given the therapy. Otherwise the practice has only advantages,’ S. Jain, a Delhi-based ayurveda specialist, told IANS. ‘The subject has been taken out of ayurveda, but not many people have the awareness. It will, however, gain in reckoning in the near future,’said Jain, whose clinic provides the facility.
‘About 150 patients avail of this service every year,’ he added.

According to medical experts, leeches remove blood from their host and release pain-killing and blood-thinning substances into the blood through their saliva. The saliva contains about 100 different bioactive substances, including anti-coagulants, vaso-dilators and anaesthetics. The medicinal leeches are brown, red striped and olive-coloured. In Jammu and Kashmir, this traditional medicinal practice has consolidated its position, with many people preferring the therapy to conventional medication. A high number of patients in the state prefer leeches over allopathic medicine to cure various skin and blood-related diseases.

Srinagar-based skin specialist Aaliya Nowsheri says the treatment has been very popular traditionally among the people of the Kashmir Valley. ‘A good number of patients have shown interest as they find the treatment effective, hygienic and clean. Moreover, the practice has always been present in the state through traditional healers who are preferred by many in rural areas,’ Nowsheri told IANS over phone. ‘The leeches used have special enzymes which quickly coagulate the blood sucked out. No further action or medicine is given to the patient post treatment. The patients get instant relief without much pain,’ she added.

The first description of leech therapy, classified as blood letting, was found in the text of Sushruta samhita (dating 800 B.C.) written by Sushruta, who was also considered the father of plastic surgery, according to information on the web. The application of medicinal leeches for cleaning the blood of poison was used in Egypt around 2,500 years ago. The therapy was common until the mid-1800s when newer therapies took their place. In the 1980s, medicinal leech therapy got a big boost by plastic surgeons who used leeches to relieve venous congestion, especially in transplant surgery. In 2004, use of blood-sucking leeches was also approved by the US government as a tool for healing skin grafts and for restoring circulation.

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Source: IANS