067 |
HEALTH PROBLEMS AND HEALTH PRACTICES IN MODERN INDIA:
A HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION |
D Banerji: Indian Practitioner 1964, 17, 137-43. |
In this paper an attempt is made to examine how
the data from the history of medicine in India can help in
formulating health programmes that deal with health problem as an
integral part of the overall causation. Indias 5000 years
old history provides an enormous perspective of the nature of mans
struggle against his environment starting from Indus Valley Civilization,
the influence of Vedic Way of life of Buddhism, followed
by frequent foreign invasions and general decline in the
living standards of people. At the time of independence in 1947,
India faced on one side, staggering problem of poverty, hunger,
illiteracy, size in population and on the other side advantage of
having ready made technological knowledge which could create effective
weapons for dealing these problems. An Ecological Analysis of
the History of Medicine in India shows an expansion of population
due to availability of abundant resources which meant an increase
in prosperity and social development. Public health facilities
of the city of Mohenjodaro were superior to all other
communities of the ancient orient. Almost all households had bathrooms,
latrines, often water closets and carefully built well indicating
the extent of health consciousness of ancient Indian people. During
Ashokan period, there is existence of social medicine along
the line of Buddhist Ideology. Emperor Ashoka states that all
over his dominions and adjoining territories, medical treatment
is provided for men and animals. However, the radical changes
that followed after the introduction of British rule dealt a fatal
blow to the practice of the Indian System of Medicine. A shift to
practical western medicine during Nineteenth and Twentieth
centuries led to neglect of Indian medicine and further decline.
These historical data help in providing a better
understanding of the genesis of the present situation are also of
immense importance for forecasting the pattern of health problems
and health practices in the context of ecological changes that are
expected to be brought about by other social development programmes,
e.g., mechanisation of coal mining might influence the epidemiology
of ankylostomiasis through better standard of living; conversely
effective ankylostomiasis programme may bring prosperity by increasing
the productivity of the coal miners. This is known as Positive
Circular cumulative causation phenomenon-. To-day, Indian society
stands on the threshold of far reaching social, cultural and economic
changes. Utilization of the scientific knowledge generated by Industrial
Revolution for dealing with health problem is essential for
practicing modern medicine. A sound of medical and public health
programme must have a very sound infracture of overall social, cultural
and economic development. In a natural process of social evolution,
medical and public health services cannot grow without such an infrastructure.
Even if it were hypothetically possible to create artificially (at
an astronomical cost) efficient medical and public health services
without correspondingly developing in the infra structure, the social
benefits accruing from such services will be of doubtful significance.
What benefits will a hypothetical 'disease free' state bring to
a population that is otherwise ill-fed, ill-clad, ill-housed
and illiterate?
|
KEY WORDS: HEALTH PROBLEMS, HEALTH PRACTICES,
HEALTH SERVICES. |