PNS | DEHRADUN
The Ayurved practitioners attending the 10th World Ayurved Congress are of the view that the evidence-base of Ayurved should be strengthened. A panel discussion on ‘evidence based Ayurveda’ was organised on the third day of the WAC being held at Parade ground here on Saturday. In the deliberations the panellists identified misperception as a major hurdle to the wider acceptance of the traditional Indian medicine system, especially abroad.
The Ayurved practitioners stressed on conducting clinical trials on new medicines and treatments and sharing the results with all stakeholders by publishing them in industry and international journals and portals to strengthen evidence based Ayurved.
Girish Tillu from the Savitribai Phule Pune University said that evidence is needed to back up claimed outcomes and for an understanding of the concepts. “What is evidence-based is driven by logic,” he said.
Sanjeev Rastogi, from the University of Lucknow said that in an evidence-based system, it is important for stakeholders to agree on what evidence is and how it is relevant to Ayurved. He said that Ayurved practice is driven by the evidence recorded in classical texts and the evidence personally gleaned by the practitioner in clinical practice.
The vice chancellor of the Kerala University of Health Sciences, Manmohan Kunnummel pointed out that evidence can change over time. Citing the example of the X-ray, he said it was initially used widely to look at internal organs to diagnose the disease. With the evidence now suggesting that X-rays can cause cancer, it is now used only sparingly. He said Ayurved was not based on belief but on practice over the years. He urged practitioners to develop the habit of documenting case studies. “If you don’t document it, it does not exist,” he said.
Director research and development, Himalaya wellness company, Babu UV highlighted some of the challenges in the evidence-based way from the industry perspective.
