This advice was given to me , or given to us during our two months posting at an allopathic hospital, he was a supporter of Ayurvedic treatments, a soft hearted person to be specific, he repeatedlt kept advicing us, the internees, about the need for Ayurvedic docs to learn how to handle emergency ( this is a broad term, although he said was that, "every body must know how to insert a canula !" ) , as you don't know what would happen to a patient with a chronic illness, like RA or OA or IVDP etc being a known case of DM/HTN/CAD/HYPERCHOLESTREMIA usually old aged ! Even though they may not be admitted in a hospital for a disease that causes emergency management so as to put in an ICU, you never know ! So far as I have seen, the pancakarma therapies do hinder with the CVS, by reducing the blood volume due to sweat, so I have attended one or two emergencies (rare mind you !) with patients complaining of a chest pain, a genuine chest pain that showed normal in an ECG when taken the first time and then when the patient reported same the next day, she was (again) taken to the emergency ward (of an allopathic hospital !) , where she was admitted to the ICU, so that the treatment was discontinued and handed over to the cardiologists ! I dont know what they do in other hospitals , cause there is no uniform code or any sort of protocol in managing ayurvedic hospitals, so that causes a concern as far as the health department is concerned regarding the quality of indigenous system of medicine ! How do you manage a sudden rise in blood pressure ? How long you gonna pacify the patient wihtout providing him any treatment other than lip service ? Something needs to be done to fill this void ! There is absolutely zero facility as far as emergency service are concerned other than the presence of the duty doctor. God be with us ! A panic attack , an epileptic attack , an accident , sudden maniac episodes in drug dependent patients, what you gonna do ? Whom you gonna run to ? What separates us from an mbbs graduate, the matter with specialisation is different, but we ought to know atleast the basics of emergency management, its quintessential.More and more patients with chronic illness are coming to ayurvedic therapies especially middle aged patients after their work related strain mostly with all sorts of diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cholestreamia, hypothyroidism, wheezing etc. So the unexpected compplications, which might be rare or even rare of the rarest must be dealt with quickly so as save the patient, to provide with him the earliest possible treatment. Every body is behind discussing the various medicaments available , that is the evidence based drugs or patent medicines, but the fact that Ayurveda treats only the patients outside the circle of risk is a detrimental factor , we are so adept at playing the safe side. We fund crores and crores for unnecessary pharmocological research, but do absolutely nothing in governing the system better, with regular quality checks and controls. The future of ayurveda lies not in the drus research but in better systematic management of the available resources. Otherwise like many drugs and procedures that were washed away in the tide of business, to be more specific, production and demand, majority of classicall preparations are gonna perish among patent placebos. with formulations such as aristas deemed as alcohol and grithas deemed as cholestrealemic substances ! Ayuveda is gonna lose its form and purpose ! Maintain kashayas, aristas, gutikas, vatakas, choornas as such modernise the human resource not the medical formulation ! There is no ayurveda without pathya. It is a proved fact that most of the drugs are anti-oxidants and phytochemicals which function well in a fat free diet, with less of exercises ! Pathya invovlves with the biochemistry of body and cannot be ignored ! Every hospital gonna be equipped with all basic diagnostic tools like bio chemical labs, x ray units, ecg machines and other life saving kits ! Use of unambiguous terms are to be avoided like kati graha, vata, pitta, kapha which no one can understand ( do it in your exam papers dudes ) , there is gotta be a uniform code which is gonna be put in action sooner or later, such is the plight of doctors ! Sanskrit is not even our national language ! We are doctors , not hindu poojaris, chanting before a diety, and the patient is definitely not your diety, understand, change accordingly , to time !
