Turns an old leaf: Siddha medicine enters mainstream in State with Centre’s push

The Centre’s aim to provide a fillip to traditional alternative medicine under Ministry of Ayush is being reflected in the increased patronage at Siddha Central Research Institute in Arumbakkam. The hospital now records an inflow of at least 2,000 patients every day.

As per the recent data available with the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, abbreviated as AYUSH, about 7.8 lakh patients received treatment at the two alternative medicine facilities in the city (National Institute of Siddha and Hospital in Tambaram and Siddha Central Research Institute in Arumbakkam) in the past year.

According to the doctors at the two facilities in Chennai, of the 2,000-odd patients who receive treatment, at least 300 undergo specific therapies every day.

Authorities at Siddha Central Research Centre said that about 25 patients undergo various therapies at the institute every hour during the outpatient hours. The hospital authorities said that the increased patronage is due to new advancements in alternative therapies, infrastructure development and a paradigm shift to alternative medicine.

The National Institute of Siddha, with other private companies that work on alternative forms of medicine, is developing a Nano Ayurvedic medicine based on Green Nanotechnology. These medicines are being developed for various chronic and lifestyle diseases, including cancer, arthritis and diabetes among others. As per the guidelines of Ministry of Ayush, Green Nanotechnology provides alternatives to chemotherapy, radiation and other traditional treatments.

Meanwhile, Dr P Sathiyarajeswaran, assistant director of the facility at Arumbakkam, said, “The Siddha Central Research Institute has already filed a patent for the medicine developed at the institute for early-stage diabetics. The medicine has been found to be effective on those who do not find allopathic drugs effective or have not started taking allopathic drugs.”

He added that there is a paradigm shift to alternative medicine with an increase in the incidence of lifestyle diseases. The hospital offers speciality outpatient services for geriatrics, diabetics and other specialised therapies.

The Government Siddha Medical College in Arumbakkam have been conducting special therapies and natural treatments for patients with several medical disorders along with the medicos from the Naturopathy and Yoga department. These special therapies have proven beneficial to patients who did not get better with allopathic or other forms of medicine. This makes Siddha treatment stand out.

“Treatments such as hydrotherapy, mud therapy, massage therapy, yoga therapy, aromatherapy, acupuncture, acupressure, chromotherapy, magnetotherapy, heliotherapy and varmam, which work on balancing the energy of the body, have proven to be beneficial for patients. We also treat patients with minor bone injuries and other muscle issues,” said Dr S Natarajan, Head of Department of Clinical Research.

He added that naturopathy treatments, including steam bath, plantain leaf bath, mud bath, massage, hip bath and spinal bath, have also become popular for treating chronic diseases such as hypertension, thyroid, obesity, spinal issues and other disorders.

Several new projects and schemes for Siddha medicine are being launched in Tamil Nadu by the Ministry of Ayush. One of the significant projects is Siddha Tele Medicine Project. It has been attracting many beneficiaries to Siddha facilities across the State.

“Under the project, information about patients in the rural areas would be sent to the Siddha institute in Arumbakkam through Common Services Centers (CSC). Then we send a prescription through the CSC portal based on their respective diagnostics. The portal allows Siddha doctors to talk to patients or medical staff in villages through video calls or text messages. Patients need not travel to the city and can buy medicines based on their prescription. The project has increased accessibility of alternative medicine where Ayush branches are not available,” Sathiyarajeswaran of Siddha Central Research Institute said.

Digitised medical records of the patients visiting Siddha hospitals are documented well a software that maintains the medical records, prescription, diagnosis, follow-up details, therapies and feedback on the treatment, called Theran. “The automated system helps to make the procedure more systematic and easy to follow-up. The records can be accessed from any centre across the State using the patient’s ID and name,” said Dr Shree Devi, senior medical staff at Siddha Central Research Institute.

The centre also keeps a regulation on the misleading advertisements on the use and abuse of Siddha medicines and reports it to the Ministry of Ayush. “At least 40 cases have been reported this year on the misleading information and advertisements of the use of Siddha medicines. We keep a check on the side-effects of the medicines,” said Dr Kamala Soundaran, programme assistant at the pharmaco-vigilance department, Siddha Central Research Institute.

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