People flock to alternative cures

HYDERABAD: More and more people in Andhra Pradesh are taking refuge in traditional systems of medicine — ayurveda, unani and homoeopathy — to beat diseases and ailments. Government hospitals dedicated to the Indian systems of medicine have registered a spurt in the number of patients.
In fact, such has been the increased faith for these systems of medicine that eight of the 18 alternative hospitals in the state have received an A grade in the performance evaluation for 2002-2003.The grading is based on the number of in-patients and outpatients.
“Some of the A-grade hospitals have exceeded the targets set, with regard to the number of in-patients and outpatients,� Indian Medicines and Homeopathy department commissioner T Janardhana Naidu told The Times of India.
That trend continued this year too with eight of these hospitals receiving A grades this April, on the basis of outpatient figures.
Of these eight hospitals, two are ayurveda hospitals, three unani and three homeopathy.
With regard to in-patients, seven of the 18 hospitals received an A grade for April. Of these, three are ayurveda hospitals, two homeopathy and one unani.
The hospitals and dispensaries under the Indian Medicines and Homeopathy department have also received a cumulative B grade based on the number of outpatients and in-patients.
A case in point is the Government Ayurvedic Hospital, Vijayawada, where 42,442 outpatient cases were recorded as against a target of 41,206 for 2002-2003. Similarly for April this year, 4,025 outpatients cases were recorded as against a target of 3,537.
A number of camps conducted by medical practitioners of various streams of Indian medicine, especially in villages and remote areas, have paid off as more and more people are now coming to these medical institutions for treatment, Dr Naidu said.
However, hospitals under the department also continue to receive the D grade with regard to in-patients and outpatients. Though hospitals continue to receive low grades, the fact that almost half of them have now received A grade shows that services at hospitals under the department are slowly, but surely improving, he added.