It is no longer necessary for patients seeking ayurvedic treatment to have to go all the way to India since it is now readily available in the UAE, a physician said yesterday.
Dr P.K. Rekha, Chief Physician, Kairali Ayurvedic Health Centre, said the treatment is available here now as the UAE government has opened up the alternative medicines window.
"Most cases can be treated here, and only in critical conditions do patients have to be referred to hospitals in India," she said, on the sidelines of a seminar held at the Indian Association Sharjah.
Many patients are now using the facilities available in the country as outpatients, she added.
Ayurvedic centres are not as yet allowed to accommodate or admit such patients or administer internal medicines, but they can offer all other lines of treatment, offering a ready option to patients familiar with this kind of medical treatment.
She added a staggering 50 per cent of people in the 40-plus age groups from the Subcontinent are overweight, with the chronic conditions associated with obesity, rheumatism, arthritis and lower back pain (sciatica) being relatively common here.
Women are more at risk than men here. Hypertension and diabetes also afflict a sizeable proportion of residents here but all these conditions can be effectively controlled and treated by ayurveda.
Dr Rekha said: "Our treatment is generally considered cheaper than allopathy and also seeks to remove the cause of the problem itself, rather than treat only the symptoms, thus seeking to effect a cure rather than offer temporary relief."
She explained this branch of medicine relies extensively on a combination of massage, diet and exercise, apart from natural lines of treatment involving herbs and medicated oils, and helping rid the body of toxins through several methods.
"For instance in the case of arthritis we offer a bundle massage while purifying therapy may involve 'panchkarma', and relaxation techniques 'dhara', where medicated oil is allowed to flow onto the forehead."
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