An Insight into Health care in today's India

Since the beginning of Ayurveda till today medicine in India has gone through numerous changes. The term Ayurveda was given to the ancient Indian system of medical education literally meaning the knowledge of life. Although origin of Ayurveda is uncertain, it is considered to be a branch of vedas. 

 

The evolution of medical sciences in ancient India has been difficult to follow accurately. The two monumental treatises Charaka samhita and Sushruta samhitaa written by Charaka (Physician) and Shushruta (Surgeon) respectively are  considered to be the two basic treatises considered to this date for practitioners of Ayurvedic medicine in India. In ancient India medical education was institutionalized. The two well known centers for medical education in ancient India were the residential universities of Takshashila and Nalanda. Both these universities offered a well organized institutional type of training to its students  intermingled with Gurukula system with a Guru taking under him a fixed number of students. 

 

In medieval times, it is difficult to understand how a system of medicine which had reached great heights in the surgical as well as medical side, in the course of centuries faded away. Not to despair we still have doctor s  studying and practicing Ayurveda in India and abroad. The British rule in India marked the advent of Western medicine into India. During their rule, the British passed various acts for the improvement of public health in the country. Even after India got its Independence, the western system of medicine which had gained world wide acceptance by then got more support from the Governments that got formed.

Today Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery or in Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae (MBBS) is awarded as a first professional degree upon graduation from medical school in medicine and surgery by universities across the world that follow the tradition of United Kingdom(UK). 

Recently getting into medical schools has been a challenge to most of the aspirants in India. The tough competition in the entrance tests, huge amount of fees, arduous and long course, low initial salaries have resulted in a drastic reduction of aspirants who are willing to choose a course in medicine. The lucrative salaries offered to Engineers in India and abroad which have got the benefits of less fees, comparatively shorter duration of the course, high initial salaries, job offers before graduation make students mesmerized to opt for Engineering courses unless for a some really interested aspirants. 

It is no doubt that with so much of trouble that the doctors would have taken for their current position they charge for services according to their whims and fancies. I heard from a friend of mine who has done his MBBS, that in US and UK doctors spend a fixed amount of time for treating patients and plan the remaining amount of time for research and evolving themselves for new approaches in medicine[strict formal process es are laid by the authorities]. In contrast, in India most of the doctors spend their time treating patients without properly engaging themselves in research. I also heard from my friend that, a doctor who does not participate in research and seminar for certain duration will be derecognized. As to this, we should now understand how many of the doctors around us are recognized!  We also lack a proper central system to manage health records of patients which might save precious time of doctors by avoiding unnecessary dialogues with patients about the history of the disease and related details.

I always wonder, in spite of having the second largest population in the world, sanity conditions being below par causing illness to most of the population, India has not been a favorite in medicine learning. There is a lot of disparity among the disciplines of Engineering, Medicine and Basic sciences. I always compare them to Cricket and other forms of sports played today in India.

As we are beginning to step into the 21st  century, we should tactically solve this problem of disparity and provide a more reasonable and justified solution which offers equal opportunities to all sections of society to pursue education based on healthy competition  rather than on mundane things like end result(payment), course fees, status etc. Although i may sound superficial without any such thought, our contribution to the field of medicine may fade away and our medical processes might become more diluted.

The unconquerable land

Ayodhya a land which has grown to international importance, has its name come from the sanskrit root word yudh, meaning "fight" or "wage war" and it translates to either "not to be fought" or, less literally, "unconquerable." It may seem to anyone that it has grown to importance for its root origin (fight, wage war) rather than for its complete meaning (not to be fought). 

Most of us are aware of the history of events that took place at Ayodhya way back since 1992 when Babri masjid was demolished till the recent Allahabad HC verdict in 2010. Without touching any of the above known events there is a recent development reported in a news paper which i thought of sharing with my view point. 

There has always been a campaign to build a Rama's temple in Ayodhya by VHP, RSS and BJP. Chandrakant Sompura, Architect was entrusted with the designing and construction of the Rama's temple by VHP chief Ashok Singhal. The architecture of the temple designed by him has been well known to most of us. 

Parallel to the above campaign there has been an attempt to start a new campaign to build Rama's temple in Ayodhya which has been slow but surely taking shape. But this campaign is not started by RSS, VHP or BJP.    It is Swami Swaroopananda Saraswati, Shankaracharya of the Jyotipeeta (Badrikashram) and Dwarakapeeta (Gujarat) [two of the four centers of Advaita learning established by Sri Sankaracharya] who has taken this initiative.

He has been linked to politics and is perceived to have been a close ally of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and had close relations with all the three generations of Gandhi family. Sources said Swaroopanand's new plan has the unspoken support of the Congress leadership. The idea is to wrest the temple initiative from the saffron brigade and isolate BJP, VHP and the Sangh on this issue in the aftermath of the September 30 Allahabad high court order. 

Swami Swaroopanand has unveiled a new plan to build a temple dedicated to “Brahma Ram (Ram as God) as opposed to the adarsh (ideal) or purushottam Ram as advocated by VHP. The design for the new temple was unveiled at the conclave of shankaracharyas held at Sringeri earlier this year.

The latter essentially recognises a mortal or human form of Ram which the shankaracharya finds unacceptable.

“A temple in the name of adarsh Ram can be a tourist spot but not a place for worship. Only a temple consecrated to Ram in divine form as Brahma Ram will be acceptable to Hindus,” Swaroopanand told a group of mediapersons at his Kalindi Colony residence in Delhi.

The shankaracharya also pointed out that VHP's temple plan would never be realised due to the vaastu dosh (architectural fault) in its Ram temple design.He said the shilanyas held by VHP in November 1989 also suffered from vaastu dosh as it had been done for a Sinha dwar (main entrance to the shrine), far from the Ram Janmasthan (birthplace) and in the south direction, which was “inauspicious”.

Swaroopanand’s campaign is aimed at getting the temple built by the Akhil Bharatiya Ramalay Nirman Samiti. This would effectively nix the saffron brigade’s plans to get the temple constructed by the VHP-controlled Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas.

The new temple's design, proposed by Akhil Bharatiya Ramalay Nirman Samiti, is based on Cambodia's Angkor Vat Temple. The temple will be 350 ft high and have five gold plated spires built on top at a cost of Rs 100 crore. It will have a hall to accommodate 10,000 devotees at a time. There would be an extensive CCTV network that would help nine lakh devotees in the premises watch the prayers. There would be broadcast facilities for live telecast.

Photos of Cambodia's Angkor Vat Temple

Now the fight for Ayodhya has taken a new turn and it looks like the Congress is tacitly backing the new gambit. We will have to wait and watch if AYODHYA [not to be fought] will ever free itself from the fights which are happening at different planes.

Link to the actual news article published in DNA on Nov 2nd 2010 can be read here