Educating mind of unborn baby part of MP’s new Ayurved at doorstep scheme

The Madhya Pradesh government will soon start a new scheme to promote Ayurveda by introducing campaigns on Ayurvedic Garbh Sanskar (educating the mind of an unborn baby), Panchakarma (five-step process to detoxify the body), Jaravastha Poshan (Geriatric nutrition) and Nadi Parikshan (Pulse diagnosis) through 362 wellness clinics around the state, officials said.

The scheme called ‘Vaidya Apke Dwaar’, meaning an Ayurvedic doctor at one’s doorstep would start by the end of March. It is modeled on Delhi government’s Mohalla clinics except that the centers will have Ayurveda doctors.

“The aim is to provide many services according to Vedas and classical Ayurvedic scriptures to teach people of MP how to live a long and healthy life,” said Ramkishor Kawre, minister of the state of Ayush department.

The department will also hold a health survey of genotype (Prakriti Parikshan) of residents of MP to know about the health status of residents and to analyse the reason behind their ailments, said Rajeev Mishra, deputy director at the state’s Ayush department.

“Ayush ministry has asked the states to open health wellness centers across the nation to decrease the burden of disease. In MP, we are strengthening the ayurvedic system which will run parallel to the conventional health system to prevent diseases related to lifestyles and will provide ayurvedic treatment to people," said Mishra.

“Our objective is to promote Ayurvedic medicines and our ancient method of living a long and healthy life. For a healthy baby and good maternal health, we will introduce Garbh Sanskar. For adolescents, we will introduce Panchakarma and for geriatric nutrition, we will introduce Jaravastha Poshan, “said the officer.

The objective is to prevent non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cardiac issues, arthritis, renal disease and others by changing the lifestyle, he added.

With wellness centers, the department will start pathology lab to perform the allopathic tests which are possible through rapid test kits, said the officer.

The initial budget for both health wellness centers and Vaidya Apke Dwaar scheme is ₹55.5 crore, according to the official, who claimed it would increase as the demand of such centers increase.

Indian Medical Association MP convener, Shankul Dwivedi said it was fine to promote Ayurveda but how will the state government ensure that quackery was not promoted through this.

“There should be a proper mechanism to check the activities of Vaidyas. The state government should have clear guidelines for Vaidyas. They shouldn’t be allowed to treat diseases for which they are not authorized or qualified. Otherwise, there are chances of promotion of quackery and exploitation of patients in the name of Ayurveda,” he added.

However, Ayush Doctors’ Association president Rakesh Pandey said, “It is wrong to compare qualified Ayurvedic doctors with quacks. Ayurvedic is a tried and tested methodology, and it has the cure for many diseases, which Allopathy doesn’t have. It is a good decision by the state government and it will also increase employment opportunities for 20,000 qualified Ayurvedic doctors.”