Amidst COVID, Ayuverda and other Traditional Medicines see a rise

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All while our central government is leaving no stones unturned to contain this pandemic, a large cluster of people are resorting to Alternative Indian medicine with the belief that it will help fight the coronavirus. Experts have repeatedly advised that the role of these alternate medicines will at best only boost one’s immunity and there has been no evidence of a cure relief through Ayurveda.

Various offers on items like immunity booster tinctures, chawayanprash, turmeric capsules, herbal teas have seen an increase in the past few days. Ayurveda and Siddha clinics have also seen an increase in footfall despite a government ordered lockdown and social distancing. All in the hope of building one’s immunity or cure.

Dr N Manavalan, Principal, Government Yoga and Naturopathy Medical College and Hospital, while conceding to the increased interest among people, said, “We are just guiding those who visit us by asking them to use basic Ayurveda ingredients that have been in use at every household for years. If they had followed a healthy lifestyle by incorporating the traditional ingredients in their food, their immunity is bound to be good and can pave way for an easy recovery. Even in China, the doctors are following traditional methods like acupuncture and herbal medicine and they have also suggested others to follow,” he said.

The Principal further encouraged people to practice ‘Pranayam’ as the exercise trains the lungs and improves its capacity. “This is a very important exercise for our respiratory system” he further adds. It can prevent the intensity of the virus attack to some extent.

Meanwhile, people who run ayurvedic shops in the city claimed that the sales of such natural products have increased. “People are buying chukku, adhimadhuram and similar products for throat and lung infections, which usually does not have many takers. In the past month, we have seen people falling back on Ayurvedic and Siddha medicines. We even ran out of stock for some products,” said one ayurvedic shop owner KK Nagar.

Ministry of AYUSH released a statement in January about ayurvedic and homoeopathic ways of managing the outbreak. It also included WHO guidelines like handwashing and using masks, it listed several herbs and other formulas that could be adopted by the people that could help in decreasing the intensity of infection.