DNA Exclusive: Ayurveda vs Allopathy, and the practice of these medical systems

New Delhi: Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a fresh debate has started over the two methods of medical treatment - Ayurveda and Allopathy. The question is which of the two techniques is more effective.

Zee News Anchor Aditi Tyagi on Tuesday (May 25) explained the two medical systems, their history and the age-old conflict over their effectiveness.

This conflict between Allopathy and Ayurveda is very old. It is believed that the use of modern medicine in India i.e. Allopathy started in the 16th century. At that time there were no doctors. Rather Acharya, Vaidya, Rishi and Hakim used to treat people and the methods of treatment were also quite different.

It is said that during that time millions of people died due to numerous diseases spread. It was only due to these diseases that Allopathy found its way into our country and gained people's trust. Since then the conflict between Ayurveda and Allopathy started, which continues till today.

The recent debate kicked off after yoga guru Baba Ramdev raised questions over Allopathy. The Indian Medical Association expressed their displeasure over this. Ramdev later retracted his statement. But the controversy has not ended.

Doctors and scientists believe that modern medical practice should be called Evidence-based medicine. Their reasoning behind this is that in this method, any drug or treatment method has to undergo a long test. And the whole method is based on scientific research.

Allopathy is considered to have its origins in Greece about 2400 years ago.

Ayurveda, one of the ancient methods of treatment, is considered to be 3 to four thousand years old. It is made up of two words from the Sanskrit language Ayur and Veda. Ayur means life and Veda means science. That is, Ayurveda means the science of life.

There are 114 verses in the Atharvaveda which refer to treatment by Ayurvedic method.

Many major diseases have been described in the Atharvaveda such as fever, cough, abdominal pain, diarrhea and skin diseases.

Apart from this, 67 medicines are also mentioned in the Rigveda, 82 medicines are mentioned in the Yajurveda and in the Samaveda, some mantras related to Ayurveda are described.

While Allopathy is the modern method of treatment, Ayurveda is the ancient method of treatment. One of the major reasons for the conflict between the two is that Ayurveda is seen to be associated with religion.

The British were well aware that the expansion of Allopathy in India would not be easy. Earlier, when smallpox spread in India, it was treated by Ayurvedic method. But then in the year 1796 the smallpox vaccine was developed and the British started using this vaccine in India. This smallpox vaccine saved the lives of people and thus won the trust of people.

It is said that the Acharyas and Vaidyas opposed it, but the British suppressed this opposition.

Today there are a total of 69 thousand government and private hospitals across the country, while the number of Ayush hospitals is just 3600. These include 2 thousand 827 Ayurvedic hospitals, 252 Unani hospitals, 264 hospitals of Siddha system of medicine and 216 hospitals of Homoeopathy.

It is said that Allopathy saves 20 lakh people every year in the world and it is estimated that between 2000 and 2030, 7 crore deaths due to 10 diseases will be averted due to allopathic medicines. Apart from this, the market of Allopathy is also very big.

This is why today people want to become doctors but do not want to become doctors of Ayurveda.

While allopathic treatment has so far saved the lives of crores of people all over the world, yoga and Ayurvedic treatment have also taught people about having a healthy lifestyle.

Both are efficient methods for medical treatment. Every method has its own importance. The bitter truth is that there is a conflict between the interests of human beings regarding these systems.