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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 problems as an integral
part of the overall causation. Indias 5000 years of 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 with 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 wells 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 and 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. Today, 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 the health problem is essential for
practicing modern medicine. A sound medical and public health programme
must have a very sound infrastructure 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 the infrastructure, 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, and ill
housed and illiterate?
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