Ayurveda Quackery

[Guest guest]

Dear Vinod Kumar,

Well said. Learning Ayurveda in short term courses and practising Ayurveda

claiming to be Ayurvedic doctors is nothing short of bogus / fraudulent

tendency, at least in India. There are also people who do Naturopathy courses

and address themselves as doctors which they are not supposed to, legally

speaking. However, the lax attitude of law-enforcing agencies and society in

general works to their advantage. Such tendencies are rampant even in Western

countries. This leads to bad impression about Ayurveda in medical fraternity.

 

Dr.D.B.Muzumdar

 

______

I have met individuals who have

set them selves up in practice after taking a six months course from

some one or another. Unfortunately many Vaidyas have taken to

exploiting these students by offering these courses. Of course many of

these Vaidyas do not assume that anyone taking these abbreviated

courses in English would think they are qualified to see patients -

yet many western students do just that..........................

[Guest guest]

I have been living in the West for the past 8 years and its no

different here when it comes to people calling themselves doctors

after taking a small course in Ayurveda.

 

The general trend is to first practice Yoga and get certified by

some local Yoga teacher who charges like 1000 USD for certification.

Then they take up some course in Ayurveda, read internet , throw in

some Sanskrit buzz words like Vata, Pitta, Kapha, Prameha etc

 

She checked my wife's pulse and said her Prakruthi is Vata.

 

Here is a transcript of the consulation.

 

Doctor: Your prakruthi is Vata

 

Wife: I've been suffering from acne and I have difficulty falling

asleep.

Doctor: Oh you have dual dosha. You are Vata-Pitta type. You have

acne purely because you dont sleep well. Avoid spicy, sour and cold

food. Do not sleep in the afternoon

 

Wife: I also have dandruff.

 

Doctor: Let me see your scalp. Oh your scalp is oily. Your are Vata-

Kapha types.Dont worry. You know Vata-Kapha is a good combination.

Your are very creative and enduring. Good.

 

Doctor: I'm going to prescribe you Brahmi, Kutaki, a face pack for

acne and a Vata reducing tea.

 

She charged us 120 USD and also suggested to take an another

appointment and drink lots of water.

 

Janardan Shastri

 

(note by cybervaidya - this message besides being very amusing because of the

transcript is also worrying on 2 accounts. One ofcourse is the image of ayurveda

being projected by such quacks. If the US government does not allow validly

trained ayurveda doctors to practice, how could the above conversation have

taken place. Secondly the charge. Sometime back I had posted a message regarding

ayurvedic doctors not getting their due. 120 US$ equals around Rs.4700/-. In

India even the most experienced and senior ayurveda doctor cannot even think of

charging such a fee. People cringe even if they charge Rs.500/-. Others advise

them not to be money-minded. Would even Mr. Janardan Shastri pay such an amount

were he to consult an well-trained ayurveda doctor in India?)

[Guest guest]

this is indeed comical, and yes, it is sadly typical of the level of

ayurveda here

it is also very frustrating however, that people are capitalizing on

such nonsense

 

i teach cooking class every so often with one of my gujarati friends,

and while we do teach how to cook with imported indian ingredients,

its to inspire an ayurvedic approach in their everyday cooking, which

could also include many local herbs, spices and foods, or even the

foods of other cultures, for e.g. the japanese umeboshi plum is

excellent to restore agni, alleviate constipation and rid the body of

ama

 

we were in large part inspired to do this because one local author,

who is of indian heritage (like bikram of bikram yoga - don't get me

started!), has written a " modern ayurvedic " cookbook that is filled

with silly " ayurvedic " recipes like a cheese and chutney sandwich!

apparently all thats needed to make something ayurvedic is to stick

some " exotic " indian flavor into it! laughable, but still very

frustrating

 

while ayurveda is still evolving in the west, its important for

potential practitioners to also get training in basic clinical

sciences, nutrition and herbology until such time that there are

enough practitioners teaching an authentic method - perhaps you can

understand WHY i strongly encourage practitioners to use local herbs,

because if they do they avoid the exoticism of using imported

products that they have no relationship with and because of this

don't really know how to use

 

the issue isn't just for ayurvedists however, and people should

always be " buyer beware "

as in india, there are many competent practitioners that have never

had any formal educational training, and sometimes these are just as

good, if not better than their " properly trained " counterparts

 

we put too much faith in licenses and professional associations, and

we have all heard our share of stories of all types of licensed

practitioners that have questionable clinical competencies; if

licensing were the solution then doctors wouldn't be the #1 killer of

people in the US, and certified general accountants would never have

been involved with enron

Caldecott

todd

www.toddcaldecott.com

 

______

Doctor: Your prakruthi is Vata

Wife: I've been suffering from acne and I have difficulty falling

asleep.

Doctor: Oh you have dual dosha. You are Vata-Pitta type. You have

acne purely because you dont sleep well. Avoid spicy, sour and cold

food. Do not sleep in the afternoon

 

Wife: I also have dandruff.

 

Doctor: Let me see your scalp. Oh your scalp is oily. Your are Vata-

Kapha types.Dont worry. You know Vata-Kapha is a good combination.

Your are very creative and enduring. Good.

 

Doctor: I'm going to prescribe you Brahmi, Kutaki, a face pack for

acne and a Vata reducing tea.

 

She charged us 120 USD and also suggested to take an another

appointment and drink lots of water.