anonymous
20th September 2018
DOCTOR'S DILEMMA(10)
DOCTOR'S DILEMMA(10)
DR RAVI BAPAT
Now, after 27 years as a surgeon, teacher and academician, I
have started thinking about our lacunae. In the last three decades, medical
science has made tremendous progress in the understanding of various diseases.
Biotechnology has helped us in arriving at correct diagnosis. The problem is
that therapy is symptom-oriented. You now have newer guns to kill bugs. In this
battle, survival of the fittest is the rule, and bugs win inspite of the newer
antimicrobials. Modern medicine doesn't think of a holistic approach. The
concept of "host-defence' is often overlooked. A strong host, i.e., psyche
and soma is the first requisite to combat disease and surgical stress. Hence,
in the last six years I have started collaborating with Dr (Mrs) S.A.
Dahanukar, Professor of Pharmacology, who is interested in Ayurveda. Rasayan
therapy has been used by us in a controlled trial of surgical jaundice to
improve immunity. It increased the capacity of white blood cells to kill
organisms and sustain stress. The work was presented at the World Congress of
Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery in London and was highly acknowledged. The
efforts of clinicians now should be to concentrate on pro-host therapy to
strengthen host defence. An excellent collaboration of various systems of
medicine might achieve the ultimate goal of a healthy, disease-free society.
Compilation of professional reminiscences of specialists - edited by M.V.Kamath and Dr.Rekha Karmarkar.