In every crisis, there is a call to increase the health budget. Simply increasing the budget is not going to help.
Investment has to be on genuine health giving measures;
- – Restoring the microbiome
- – Understanding disease to be a response to toxicity and arranging for detoxification
- Catering to the alkaline and oxygenation needs of the body
- Emphasizing on mental hygiene and building health oriented behaviour patterns
- Healing the gut and ensuring access to age and activity appropriate safe and nutritious food
- Removing toxins from the environment and going all out to restore ecosystems and the environment
- Putting stress on moderate exercise
- Prohibiting medicalization of pregnancy childbirth and childhood
- Having a health oriented system instead of the profitable disease approach
Focus On Health
India needs health. Till date we have followed the disease approach with devastating consequences. The pharmaceutical industry has grown into humongous proportions, drug dealers have become millionaires, and members of the medical profession who have compromised have never had it so good.
What about the subjects? Populations have been sickened and impoverished paying for “health care” that destroys health. We have been fools to believe in this system whose primary goal has always been to maintain a monopoly to ensure growth and profits.
Earlier the General Practitioners (GPs) used to try and do the minimum damage. Their job was to supervise and facilitate and ensure minimum interference. But they had no control over the popular “Public Health” intervention that overtook everything. Consequently the public regressed from self limiting and beneficial acute illnesses to epidemics of chronic degenerative diseases. This led to the appearance of specialists and mindless aggressive treatment.
According to the Rig Veda the objective of a healing profession ought to be;
- Keeping the healthy at the peak of their health
- Leading the unhealthy towards health
- Curing the sick
So long as there are full time doctors in society, the public face a health threat. Earlier being a healer used to be a part time job often taken up after divine instructions. People acquired knowledge to serve people. In tribal societies we see a organized method of taking forward the knowledge of herbs and healing. In general a tribal will go into isolation and take rest when faced with any illness. This is continued till recovery allowing nature to work impeded and do the work necessary.
The best way to regain health is to be ones own doctor. By asking for more doctors and hospitals we worsen the situation and fill up the coffers of Big Pharma.
(Dr Naresh Purohit is Executive Member, Federation of Hospital Administrator. He is also advisor to the National Communicable Disease Control Programme. Dr. Purohit is also Advisor to six other National Health Programmes. He is visiting Professor in five Medical Universities of Southern India including Thrissur based Kerala University of Health Sciences. (The views and opinion expressed in this article are those of the author)