A new look at ancient medicine

At the meeting, papers were read out and studies on the efficacy of various medicines currently being prescribed for HIV/AIDS in alternative systems of medicine discussed. While none of the practitioners claimed to turn a person HIV negative, there were claims of increasing the CD 4 count or the immunity level of positive patients.

The meeting is expected to lead to a research initiative which will test the effectiveness of ayurvedic, siddha and other alternative systems of medicine in combating the HIV virus.

Gerard Bodekar, chairperson of the Global Initiative for Traditional Systems (GIFTS) was upbeat about the research initiative. GIFTS has been the driving force behind a similar initiative in traditional medicine for HIV in Africa. ‘‘The research project was launched in April this year and clinical trials are on in Uganda and Nigeria. The medicines being used for HIV-related herpes and diarrhoea which are being tested in Uganda are showing quicker and better results than the allopathic alternatives,’’ claimed Bodekar.

Bodekar wants to network with practitioners of alternative medicine in India. He already has an e-mail network of over 300 practitioners in Africa, he says. ‘‘Whether the government or any one else takes traditional remedies seriously or not, people do,’’ says Bodekar. ‘‘Hence it is better to subject all claims to research rather than leave people at the mercy of unproven claims and even quackery.’’

The WHO, which has lent its weight to research initiatives in traditional remedies for HIV in India, likes to call this dalliance with traditional medicine as an example of its ‘multi-sectoral approach’. ‘‘Besides, anti-retroviral drugs for HIV are unaffordable despite the recent fall in prices,’’ says WHO representative for South Asia, Jai Krishnan.

The eagerness to explore traditional remedies for HIV is evident in the relaxation of research protocol by WHO. According to the rapid research response which GIFTS intends to trigger in India, medicines which are being used will be tested for effectiveness directly through human trials. The preliminary stage of animal trials which is part of the research protocol for new drugs, will be dispensed with.

Commenting on the research programme, Dr N.K. Mehra, a professor and head of department of histocompatibilty and immunogenetics in All India Institute of Medical Sciences, said: ‘‘One reason why we should have our own remedies is that a medicine developed for western populations may not work here due to differences in the immune response profile of various people.’’

A scientist with the ICMR, Dr Q.B. Saxena, said that claims of remedies in ayurvedic medicine for HIV hadn’t been tested due to shortage of funds. ‘‘But not being proved right does not prove them wrong too,’’ she remarked.

However, the GIFTS meeting didn’t pinpoint the nodal agency that would be putting together and testing out the research proposals on alternative Indian medicine. Would it be the Department of Indian System of Medicine and the ICMR? Or would it be a non-governmental platform of practitioners of alternative medicine?

Ranjit Ray Choudhury, president of the Delhi Society for Rational Use of Drugs, felt that unless the initiative was steered by the government, it would never enter mainstream medicine.

Dr Vasantha Muthuswamy, a scientist with the ICMR, echoed this view, saying the Department of Indian System of Medicine could easily handle the research initiative.

However, practitioners in alternative medicine are not too confident in another government programme. Says Dr V.N. Pandey, former director of Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha: ‘‘Any effort has to be outside the bureacratic set-up. It will become an honest attempt only if practitioners of the Indian systems are part of the programme.’’

Dr Kuttan, an ayurvedic practitioner from Amala Cancer Hospital, Thrissur in Kerala who has been treating HIV positive patients with occasional trickles of assistance from ICMR, agrees. ‘‘If practitioners themselves do not take responsibility for getting trials conducted, the research programme will remain on paper,’’ he says.

Experiments with treatment

Some experiments in alternative therapy being offered to HIV positive patients were reported at the GIFTS meet. Two of them are supported by National AIDS control Organsation:

(The joint allopathic, siddha and ayurvedic medicine trials are supported by NACO)