Folk healers want 'healing touch' of acceptance to continue

Bangalore, Nov 22 : Folk healers Amchi Wangtak from Ladakh and Gemma Brirford from Tanzania may not follow each other's language, but their concern is the same - revival of their age-old methods of traditional medicine which are facing a survival crisis.

"Traditional medicine is not new. It is the oldest community medicine in the world. However, due to the development of allopathic medicine, very few people are coming to us to cure diseases. It's time to recognise our role in bringing healthcare benefits to the people," Wangtak told IANS in chaste Hindi.

She was speaking on the sidelines of an international conference on traditional medicine here.

Echoing her views, Brirford said: "Folk healers have been saving people from death due to various complicated diseases since ages. We use naturally available herbs and spices to cure diseases. We can provide alternative form of cure to treat millions of people suffering from diseases across the world."

The view was shared by several traditional medicinal practitioners from across the globe who had assembled at India's tech hub Bangalore to devise methods and plans to popularise the age-old community healing methods.

Around 200 participants representing 18 countries from across the world took part in the international conference on 'Promotion of traditional medicine for sustainable healthcare'.

The participants said that with the development of modern healthcare sciences, the whole world is taking a sceptical view of traditional forms of medicine. Experts said folk healers have three challenges before them - retaining autonomy, revitalising the oral system of transmission of education, and generating evidence in a manner that does not interfere with their holistic nature.

"Every community across the world has been practising traditional medicine since ages. There are over 400 million traditional medicine practitioners across the globe," said Darshan Shankar, director of the Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) which organised the two-day conference.

"Traditional medicinal practitioners are struggling to survive as they have very few takers. The government needs to recognise folk healers as community doctors or gram vaidyas. This will ensure continuance of local health traditions," added Shankar.

Citing the success of midwives in helping rural women in delivering babies in the absence of good hospitals in India, P.K. Jha, director (Schemes) of AYUSH said midwives could assist general practitioners in maternity healthcare.

"With proper training to midwives, they can serve as delivery assistants during birthing," added Jha.

"A good coordination can be achieved between allopaths and practitioners of traditional medicine for the benefit of the public," said Gamage Daya, a folk healer representing Sri Lanka.

He said herbal farms should be set up in villages across the globe in order to popularise herbal medicines.

The participants were mostly traditional medicinal practitioners, academics, researchers and activists.

The event, which ended Friday, was supported by Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), under the ministry of health and family welfare.