16th May 2020 |11.00 am to 12.30 pm
The CVV-CPPR dialogue on Global Health Emergencies: How should Indigenous Medical Systems and Knowledge Respond is set to challenge the existing models of response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of AYUSH has been relatively silent during the last few months of the Covid19 Pandemic Resistance. The World Health Organization, as late as 4th May 2020, declared that it supports traditional medicines that have been ‘tested scientifically’ for efficacy.
The African nations and other lower income countries are exploring alternative medicine, not just from African scientists but from other indigenous medical practitioners, involving traditional herbal medicines and plants which have been used across different cultures, inside and outside the continent. They have been struggling to support the cost of imported health care equipment and drugs from developed countries, which are prone to restricting exports and price hikes. China, on the other hand, has started promoting traditional medicines as treatment for COVID19 and it has become a part of their international aid.
In India, we observe a half-hearted promotion for traditional medicine, not only for its application but also in research. On 6th March, the Government of India announced an advisory on AYUSH based public health interventions, but on 1st April another notification was issued to stop and prevent advertisements and promotions providing misleading information on AYUSH components. While the global economy has given a de facto welcome for unproven treatment options for COVID19 after the US President Donald Trump pushed for the use of hydroxychloroquine, there is a language of suspicion when it comes to trials or research of traditional medicine. Against this context, CVV and CPPR inquire into the question ‘what is the ideal strategy indigenous medical systems should deploy in the Covid19 response’.
Key Speakers:
Padma Shri Darshan Shankar, Managing Trustee, Board of Trustees,
and Founder and Member, Board of Governors of The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology, India. He spoke on ‘Limitations of Clinical Evidence in the Indigenous Medical Systems, Especially Ayurveda’. He will also address the importance of integrative health science strategies that should be adopted by the Ministry of AYUSH during Covid19.
Dr K V Rajagopalan, Senior Physician, Arya Vaidya Shala, Kottakkal
Other Panelists
- Prof. Gouri Mahaulikar, DEAN, Chinmaya Viswavidyapeeth, Ernakulam
- Dr. Dhanuraj D, Centre for Public Policy Research, Ernakulam
- Prof. Madhulika Banerjee, Department of Political Science, Delhi University
- Dr. Ashwin Savant, Ayurveda Practitioner, Mumbai
- Prof. Shilpa Pandit, Chinamaya Viswavidyapeeth, Ernakulam
- Prof. Vinayak Rajat Bhat, Chinamaya Viswavidyapeeth, Ernakulam