‘80 Siddha clinics kept ready across State if Omicron cases surface’

‘After the COVID-19 outbreak, there is a rise in demand for Siddha treatment’

December 04, 2021 12:47 am | Updated 12:47 am IST - Coimbatore

The Directorate of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy has kept ready 80 Siddha clinics if the Omicron cases were to surface, Director S. Ganesh told journalists on the sidelines of the inauguration of National Conference on the ‘Strength of Siddha Medicine for Communicable Diseases’ at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University here on Friday.

By opening 80 Siddha clinics across the State, the government had treated over one lakh COVID-19 positive persons who had mild and moderate symptoms. Now, with the fall in COVID-19 cases, the government had closed the clinics, but had kept the doctors on stand-by.

The Directorate had faced shortage of drugs during the first and second wave of COVID-19. But it took immediate steps to procure herbs to overcome the shortfall, Mr. Ganesh said and added that it was fully geared to meet any new infection outbreak.

Thanks to the increased awareness among people on Siddha, particularly after the COVID-19 outbreak, the Directorate was seeing a rise in demand for Siddha treatment. Therefore, it was conducting camps across the State, at 1,000 camps a week, he added.

The Ministry of AYUSH had also played a role in spreading awareness among people on the Siddha system of medicine. From 33 centres, the Ministry had helped distribute Siddha medicines to around 60,000 persons across the country, said K. Kanakavalli, Director General, Central Council for Research in Siddha.

Awareness

Though awareness on Siddha was on the rise from 2016 after increase in dengue and chikangunya cases, it had increased dramatically after COVID-19, she added. The demand for Siddha medicine also came from the U.S., U.K., Australia, Japan and Malaysia, said R. Meenakumari, Director, National Institute of Siddha, Chennai.

The State government’s integrated approach – combining allopathy with Siddha – had helped in quicker recovery of COVID-19 affected persons.

It also showed that the number of days patients stayed in hospitals or COVID-19 Care Centres came down with integrated treatment, she added.

The national conference was a precursor to the Siddha Day celebration, held every year on the birth anniversary of Siddhar Agasthiyar, said P. Sathiyarajeswaran, Assistant Director, Siddha Central Research Institute, Chennai.

More than 200 papers are to be presented in the two-day conference.

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