Ayurveda and TCM have many commonalities

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Dear Colleagues,Very interesting, come on and keep the discussion up, since we have Dr. Vijay moderating, keep him busy, and send him as soon as you can, because he made many travels, and he seems very fresh and energetic.Colleagues, Ayurveda and TCM have many commonalities. The focus of both the

systems is on the patient rather than disease. But from my point, every system is running, the main thing is the quality and the quality, efficacy and safety of the drugs can not be waived at any cost. In very early history, ayurveda medicines were available and people had more profit from that, we should work hard towards its rationalization and quality improvement, since it is the critical determinant of safety and efficacy of botanical medicines.Both systems

fundamentally aim to promote health and enhance the quality of life,

with therapeutic strategies for treatment of specific diseases or

symptoms in holistic fashion. Almost half of the botanical sources used

as medicines have similarities; moreover, both systems have similar

philosophies geared towards enabling classification of individuals,

materials and diseases. TCM considers the human at the center of the

universe as an antenna between celestial and earthly elements. Water,

earth, metal, wood and fire are the five elements of the material

world. The world is a single unit and its movement gives rise to yin

and yang, the two main antithetic aspects. The actual meaning of the

term yin and yang is ‘opposites’, such as the positive and the

negative. However, Chinese believe that yin and yang is not absolute

but relative. Consistent with the modern view of homeostasis, yin and

yang are interchanged to meet the view that ‘yang declines and yin

rises’ or ‘yang is raised to produce a decline of yin’. The four bodily

humors (qi, blood, moisture and essence) and internal organ systems

(zang fu) play an important role in balancing the yin and yang in human

body. Proper formation, maintenance and circulation of these energies

are essential for health. When the two energies fall out of harmony,

disease develops. The physician takes into account this concept while

treating patients. Drugs or herbs are used to correct this imbalance of

yin–yang in the human body.Ayurveda

considers that the universe is made up of combinations of the five

elements (pancha mahabhutas). These are akasha (ether), vayu (air),

teja (fire), aap (water) and prithvi (earth). The five elements can be

seen to exist in the material universe at all scales of life and in

both organic and inorganic things. In biological system, such as

humans, elements are coded into three forces, which govern all life

processes. These three forces (kapha, pitta and vata) are known as the

three doshas or simply the tridosha. Each of the doshas is composed of

one or two elements. Vata is composed of space and air, Pitta of fire,

and kapha of water and earth. Vata dosha has the mobility and quickness

of space and air; pitta dosha the metabolic qualities of fire; kapha

dosha the stability and solidity of water and earth. The tridosha

regulates every physiological and psychological process in the living

organism. The interplay among them determines the qualities and

conditions of the individual. A harmonious state of the three doshas

creates balance and health; an imbalance, which might be an excess

(vriddhi) or deficiency (kshaya), manifests as a sign or symptom of

disease.In China and India formal training is an integral part of the national

health program, which helps in ensuring quality standards in health

care delivery. China became successful in integrating TCM in the

national health care system. Science-based approaches were utilized and

inculcated in the education of TCM with emphasis on research. Hospitals

practicing TCM treat more than 200 million outpatients and almost 3

million inpatients annually. About 95% of general hospitals in China

have traditional medicine departments.Government

of India also has expressed support and encouragement for the TIM. A

separate department for Indian Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy

(ISM & H) now known as AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha,

Homoeopathy) was established in March 1995 to promote indigenous

systems. Priorities include education, standardization of drugs,

enhancement of availability of raw materials, research and development,

information, communication and larger involvement in the national

system for delivering health care. The Central Council of Indian

Medicine oversees teaching and training institutes while Central

Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha deals with

interdisciplinary research. Some TIM products are being added into

family welfare programs of the government under the World Bank project.

These medicines are mainly for common diseases like anemia, edema

during pregnancy, postpartum problems such as pain, uterine and

abdominal complications, difficulties with lactation, nutritional

deficiencies and childhood diarrhea.

The government has also established 10 new drug testing laboratories

for TIM and is upgrading existing laboratories to provide documented

high quality evidence to licensing authorities for the safety and

quality of herbal medicines. This replaces the earlier ad hoc

system of testing that was considered unreliable. In 2002, the Council

for Scientific and Industrial Research has launched a research program

under New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative scheme in

Ayurveda identifying three disease areas such as arthritis, diabetes

and hepatic disorders, which afflict large numbers of the Indian

population.Many additional concerns need to be addressed. The

quality of education in many colleges needs to be improved. Under the

pretext of integration, attempts to make hybrid curricula producing

inadequately trained graduates remain unacceptable for either modern or

traditional systems.

A paucity of funds is noticeable; ISM & H gets only 2% of the total

health budget of the nation. A corrective and promotive policy needs to

be initiated for TIM to fully realize its potential and contribute more

meaningfully to integrative health services. The industry has not been

able to grow and develop optimally during the last few decades.

Largely, the achieved growth is owing to industry's own initiatives,

in-house research and development. A national organization, Ayurvedic

Drugs Manufacturers' Association is taking a proactive role to improve

quality and research that needs to be nurtured, stimulated and

sustained by providing special funding or incentives. Preparation of

formularies and pharmacopoeial standards have been attempted but a lot

remains to be done. Numbers of Indian botanical sources and their

medicinal uses as in case of turmeric have been patented by claiming

innovations that are already in the public domain. Necessary measures

to protect such intellectual property are important as the retrieval

and contesting of patents is a very costly and time-consuming affair.

For this purpose, the Government of India has established a Traditional

Knowledge Digital Library on traditional medicinal plants, which will

also lead to a Traditional Knowledge Resource Classification.

Linking this to internationally accepted International Patent

Classification system will mean building the bridge between the

knowledge contained in an old Sanskrit text and a patent examiner. This

may control the problem of mistakingly granting patents since the

examiner will know the Indian rights to that knowledge. It could

integrate widely scattered and distributed references on TIM in

retrievable form and will be a major impetus to modern research in the

developing world.source: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1297513#id403335Best Regards Mohammad BashaarFrom: Vijay <drvijaythawani@...>Subject: Safety & efficacy of Ayurvedic medicinesnetrum Date: Friday, January 9, 2009, 4:30 AM

Hi,

Thanks Bashaar for your enthusiastic opening to the discussion. As

usual, you were the first when the moderator did not report for the

duty on time. The NetRUM show goes on because of esteemed dedicated

members like you and Ram who takeover in the times of need. Thanks

on behalf of the management team.

Vijay Thawani

Moderator

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> > From: Vijay <drvijaythawani@ ...>

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> > Subject: Thanks Smita; Welcome Anand

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> > netrumgroups (DOT) com

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> > Date: Tuesday, January 6, 2009, 12:59 PM

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> > Hi,

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> > Heartfelt thanks to Dr Smita Sontakke for her efficient conduct

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> of the discussion on publication ethics. It was in deed

enriching.

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> Smita do return as moderator on NetRUM with another topic.

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> > Coming up is discussion on "Safety and efficacy of Ayurvedic

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> formulations" from 08 to 13 Jan which will be moderated by Dr

Anand

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> Chaudhary from Banaras (Varanasi). Welcome Anand as moderator and

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> take over NetRUM WEF 07 Jan night.

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> > Till the next discussion picks up, NetRUM is open for other

posts.

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> > Vijay

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> > Groupie

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