With apologies to none at all
By Vikas Mehta
With the pandemic many things changed on the health front. Suddenly health and hygiene became a very important part of our lives. In India, with a parallel narrative on health and hygiene existing in the form of ancient methods like yoga, ayurveda, unani (all abbreviated as Ayush), and homeopathy (not strictly Indian but practised widespread), health and hygiene took a very interesting turn.
Whereas the goodness of turmeric and ginger was already part of our modern lifestyle, yoga and ayurveda caught on in a big way. While established companies like Dabur and Baidyanath played it safe by highlighting the benefits of raising body immunity with products like Chyawanprash, Patanjali went headlong and actually claimed to have produced a cure to Corona with Coronil but then beat a hasty retreat to claim that it also is an immunity booster. In fact, currently if you look at the product benefit of Coronil, as listed on Amazon, it says, energy management and for specific uses of product it says, immunity booster
Thisa was also the time that we saw lot of talk on various media including social media on overall wellness and health. Raising body immunity became a catch phrase and anyone related to health started hyping body immunity and how to achieve the same. Green tea, ginger tea, antioxidants, turmeric milk, tulsi drink, immunity bar, were some of the products which became part of the typical middle class family eating habits.
And this was not all, ayurveda doctors and clinics came into big demand. Clinics and private practice mushroomed. Under the guidance of the Ayush ministry, the pandemic saw a growth in ayurveda as a medicinal opportunity. And then there is also a chain of nine ayurveda hospitals and clinics called AyurVAID which has now been acquired by India’s largest chain of hospitals, Apollo Hospitals. Why should an allopathy chain acquire an ayurveda chain of clinics and hospitals? Though that is an intriguing topic, given that allopathy doctors have protested when Ayush doctors were given more powers, including performing minor surgeries, that’s for another day.
The elephant in the room is the viability and the success of traditional concepts like Ayurveda in the post-pandemic era. I don’t have any data on sales of Chyawanprash and many such immunity boosters but I guess their sales must have come down in the past six months or so. To understand why it is difficult to sell concepts like immunity boosters or wellness let’s take the analogy of oral care.
Oral care is largely preventive. Brands like Colgate have to sell a story of prevention, not cure. You do not want cavities and the pain associated with it, start using a toothpaste. You want strong teeth that do not fall away or break, use a toothpaste. Toothpastes are not about cure. They are about prevention. Prevent cavities, prevent teeth from weakening. Prevent gum sensitivity. It’s not that you have toothache and by applying it the ache will go away. It’s the constant use that will prevent any oral problem. And still there is no guarantee that you will not develop cavities or other problems. That’s why in many parts of the world toothpaste penetration is still low. People want cure, not prevention.
That is exactly the issue with alternate treatments. These are not necessary cure. AyurVAID hospitals in the first line describing themselves say “Today’s chronic illnesses require a comprehensive customized and affordable approach to prevention and treatment.” Prevention takes precedence over treatment.
And that is the consumer perception too. The 2015 National Sample Survey says that 90% of Indians prefer allopathy to Ayush. I suspect the reason is simple. Allopathy is about cure. You got pain take x medicine. You have hernia get an operation done. Ayush, on the other hand is about wholistic. Root of the problem. Cure may exist but it will take some time to work. Simply put, the perception is that Allopathy is cure to a problem, Ayush is just prevention. The common man has been attuned to cure. Prevention is not part of the mental make up.
So, when the Pandemic struck and allopathy had no cure, Ayush and its immunity boosters, its turmeric, ginger and tulsi ingredients etc were a great story. People flocked to them as there was no cure. And then came the vaccines. The vaccines were also prevention but armed with research and data, plus government push. In our simplistic minds, a cure to Covid had been found. We no longer needed Ayush. At best, it remained a top up.
For Ayush to succeed it must move into the realm of cure. And to do that it needs to copy a page from the allopathy play book. Get into research and trials in a big way. Publicise the same. And no short-cuts. No sham research. It’s one thing for Baba Ramdev to hit out at allopathy but then by making exaggerated claims without any research backing on ayurveda he is doing a great disservice not just to the practice but also to those who are painstakingly trying to establish that Ayush can be a cure. Flexing his political connections to overturn decisions against Patanjali and its products is actually a sure shot way to create bigger dissonance in the consumer minds.
Ayush also makes tall and sweeping claims. Any pack of Chyawanprash talks about power, mental and physical fitness, agility, increasing resistance and metabolic activity, prevention of infections like cough and cold, effective antioxidant, improving immunity and resistance. The glut of claims make it sound ridiculous and also unbelievable. Chyawanprash may do all that but it needs to focus on its core benefit. And then use science and data to make it come alive. Jack of all trades and master of none can make Ayush a dull and uninterested concept. Not to talk about being non trustworthy.
Almost a decade ago, I had checked into an ayurveda ashram in Kerala for a specific health issue. The founder, an FRCS Doctor and Surgeon, bemoaned the lack of research rigour on ayurveda. He had over decades painstakingly studied Ayurveda and was using his allopathic skills to diagnose the issue and treat it with Ayurveda. He was well aware that Ayurveda was associated with general well being and prevention. He was afraid that ayurveda may just remain a lifestyle generic treatment and may become the preserve of the rich or the foreigners for whom the exoticism of ayurveda is a draw.
Will the taking over of AyurVAID by Apollo Hospitals be the gateway to allopathy playbook that Ayush needs or will it be just another offering of exoticism for the rich and the famous?