The recent years have witnessed a rise in interventions of alternative medicine to treat various diseases. COVID-19 is recent such instance, where the practitioners of the different systems have tried to find immunity enhancing measures and cure for the infection.
Siddha Medicine
The Siddha System of Medicine (Traditional Tamil System of medicine), which has been prevalent in the ancient Tamil land goes back to B.C 10,000 to B.C 4,000. According to the Siddha system, the individual is a microcosm of the universe. The human body consists of the five primordial elements-earth, water, fire, air and space, the three humours-vatha, pitta and kapha and seven physical constituents. Food is the basic building material of the human body and gets processed into humours, tissues and wastes. The equilibrium of humours is considered as health and its disturbance or imbalance leads to a diseased state.
How Siddha Medicine works?
Siddha is a comprehensive system that places equal emphasis on the body, mind and spirit and strives to restore the innate harmony of the individual. Treatment is aimed at restoring balance to the mind-body system. Diet and lifestyle play a major role not only in maintaining health but also in curing diseases. This concept of the Siddha medicine is termed as pathiam and apathiam, which is essentially a list of do’s and don’ts.
Siddha based COVID-19 Care Center
The facility has been established in Vyasarpadi in Tamil Nadu for treatment for asymptomatic patients. The centre will have Siddha practitioners, and will offer meditation and immune boosters for patients. Siddha will serve as a supplementary system. The treatment encompasses regular consumption of Siddha medicines, along with breathing techniques and yoga. The facility also offers patients a Siddha diet including Ayush herbal tea, herbal soup and traditional Tamil cuisine food.
The Tamil Nadu government had constituted a committee, while taking into consideration guidelines issued by Union Ministry of AYUSH on using Indian System of Medicine as general immunity booster to develop and promote interventions for COVID-19. The center will be maintained by the National Institute of Siddha.
