Shafi

Medicine

What exactly is medicine? Is it a science,an art or is it simply something that we must avoid at all cost. If all the pils and potions that 'sick' people take are really effective, why is there so much illness on this planet?

This is something we must think about really hard.

Western medicine or Allopathy no doubt remains well ahead of other types,like Ayurweda or Homeopathy, as it is very scientific.Vast amounts of researches are being carried out at the cost of billions of dollars to find out better methods of treating diseases.When better medicines are found as a result of such reseach, they are sold at such high cost (to cover the cost of research ),that the poor cannot afford to buy them.

Western medicine is not able to cure most of the diseases that afflict man. Where it is most successful is in treating bacterial and some other pathogenic diseases, thanks to the antibiotics. Then again, the abuse of antibiotics has resulted in the emergence of resitant strains, producing a need to develop newer ( and more costly ) drugs capable of destroying them.
Vaccination is another area where phenomenal advances have been made in combating pathogenic diseases as in the case of Small Pox, Poliomyelitis and some other diseases.

In most other cases it is just a matter of managing the disease, aimed at retarding progression and complications of the illness, as in Diabetes melitus, Hypertension, Rheumatoid arthritis, and many more.There is no known cure for such diseases.In cases like cancer, certain procedures e.g. chemotherapy and radiotherapy, meant to arrest the progression of the disease and to prolong life, leave the patient sufferring due to the side effects of those procedures.

So think we must, and very hard too.

Comments?

posted by Shafi @ 10:01 PM