Saturday, June 16, 2012

Week Seven From the Field: Medicine


My time here has been fascinating, I really have loved to getting to know more and more about the Indian healthcare systems here in India. I have really focused in the last two weeks on defining my parameters in what types of Indian medicine I am including in my research. This is particularly interesting when I consider what type of care I am looking at studying as a part of my research. 

I came across and article earlier this week by a doctor here in India that was a comprehensive outline at the status of the healthcare programs in India. It is fascinating and I have gleaned a lot of important information from it. I want to out line some of the interesting things that I have learned from reading this paper. I will also include several things that I have learned through my own research as well. I am going to share them here to follow.
One of the biggest things that I have come to understand is that in India there are several healthcare types from different cultures that have left significant impressions on the healthcare status here. The Indian Government recognizes several of these alternative types of healthcare as falling under the acronym AYUSH, Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy.

I knew when I got here that I would be focusing on Ayurveda and Homeopathy but due to the nature of my research it has become very important that I utilize the other specialties. I will use the other specialties in my definition of the healthcare systems here in India. I guess I’m lucky that I went ahead and included the other slot on my survey questions. It is true that Ayurvedic is the one main other type of medicine but I have learned so much about the others as well that it would not be appropriate to leave them out at this point.

In other ways this trip is also really starting to shape up as well. I love the culture and people here so much. I constantly am taken aback as to the genuine and sincere attitudes of the people that I have met here in Tamil Nadu. I catch myself thinking just how lucky I was to be here and have this wonderful experience. I have learned so much and the status of my research reflects that.

Things are going well and I love the place more and more the longer I am here. It has an interesting hold on you like that and I am completely ok with it.

2 comments:

  1. Nathan you bring up some interesting points. You have been in India for quite some time now so I am sure that you have learned a great deal about the healthcare systems. Like you said, there is so much to study for whatever topic we choose to focus on. You just have to keep narrowing it down until you get exactly what you want. It sounds like those outside resources of previous research will be a great help to you and your continuation of the topic. Hopefully you can share some insight that you have gleaned from observing healthcare in India, as well as what your subject group has shared with you. It sounds like your project is going great and that you are really enjoying your time in India. Keep up the great work!

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  2. ...so what have you learned about unani and siddha. I dying of curiosity actually. I've never heard of those before.

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