‘Ayurveda hindering HIV therapy, dump it’ NACO

[Guest guest]

Ayurveda hindering HIV therapy, dump it'

Published: Thursday, Aug 19, 2010, 0:34 IST

By Jyoti Shelar

Advocates and practitioners of Ayurveda may be claiming that the centuries-old

system has a solution for the dreaded AIDS, but the National Aids Control

Organisation (Naco) is not prepared to buy any of it. It has asked all medical

colleges to stop experimenting with Ayurvedic treatment on HIV patients.

The organsation feels that the alternate treatment is destroying the importance

of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and other therapeutic drugs for HIV. Acting on

its order, the Mumbai District Aids Control Society (MDACS) has already stalled

all such ongoing studies by students and doctors at various medical colleges in

the city.

" Ayurvedic treatment or any other kind of immune boosters is not the mandate of

Naco, " said Dr SS Kudalkar, project director, MDACS, adding that Naco's letter

clearly stated that the HIV patients underestimate the importance of ART and

other prescribed drugs when they are put on alternate treatments.

According to Kudalkar, Naco has specified that any HIV patient, whether under

the ART or not, should not be included in any such research papers.

" Very often the patients start thinking that Ayurvedic treatment is curing them

but they suddenly find that they have reached an advanced stage of the disease.

This is mainly because they start ignoring ART while taking the other line of

treatment, " said Kudalkar.

This is the reason why a student from Nair Hospital, who had recently applied

for a research paper on 'Ayurvedic treatment as an immune booster' for HIV

patients, was discouraged from proceeding with her work. The ethical committee

set up by the college asked her to switch to another topic.

" The student's research was on neem, tulsi, haldi, cloves and other such

harmless items as immune boosters for HIV patients. If the life span of an HIV

patient can be increased through such easy techniques, then such studies should

be promoted by Naco instead of discontinuing them, " said a senior professor from

the hospital, who refused to be named.

Another study by consultant physician and professor of medicine, Dr AR Pazare,

from KEM was discontinued after Naco's order. The study which had completed one

year, used an Ayurvedic drug as an immune booster for HIV patients. It had

yielded positive results in increasing the CD4 count in the patients. The CD4

cells indicate the health of a person. The researchers are now seeking

permission from the Centre to re-start the study.

http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report_ayurveda-hindering-hiv-therapy-dump-it_142\

5452

[Guest guest]

Dear Readers,

Re: /message/11869

Here is another graphic example of throwing the baby out with the

bath water.

I would like to propose a different response from NACO to proven immune function

enhancers of which Ayurveda is just one.

IMMUNE ENHANCERS CAN HELP HIV PATIENTS - STUDY IT.

It is no use blaming the patients for not being aware of the both / and approach

to immune enhancement.

ARV's stop the damage when properly used and matched with appropriate

support, hydration, nutrition, testing and education.

They DON'T enhance immune function.

Medical Colleges of India don't stop the research. It could prevent a lot of the

need for second line drug therapy for positive people who didn't do well with

first line drugs and don't yet know why.

It is high time that Doctors and Patients spend more time fine tuning the

relationship between ARV's and whatever else is necessary to make the poisons

effective. (I use 'poisons' deliberately because, like chemotherapy, ART's are

Section 100 drugs which are labelled poisons but they have a job to do and they

need to be managed effectively and the body fine tuned to make them effective)

To claim IMMUNE ENHANCERS as CURES is malevolent and just plain wrong with the

knowledge we have at present, but that knowledge is changing constantly.

To deny IMMUNE ENHANCERS to persons on ART who are educated enough to

understand that they need to be used together for optimum effectiveness, is just

plain parochial bloody-mindedness.

Even worse is to make claims that HIV patients " underestimate the importance of

ART and other prescribed drugs when they are put on alternate treatments'.

Whose fault it that? Patients on the whole are not stupid, but

they can be made to look stupid by treating them like mushrooms.

(Everyone would be aware that to grow mushrooms quickly you must keep them in

the dark and feed them bulls--t)

As an example I suffered severe asthma from aged 15 to aged 40 and was at the

extreme end of steroid treatment to stay alive and remain working.

IMMUNE ENHANCEMENT made the difference and I am now 66 and I have not even had a

wheeze since my 40th birthday when I had a near fatal hospital admission.

When I contacted the Asthma Foundation to request some researchers to

examine my case I was asked what drug I took. When I said it was via natural

therapies and a change in sleeping patterns I got told, " don't call us we'll

call you " I am still waiting for the call.

Needless to say my financial support to the Foundation stopped 26 years ago. I

seems that researchers are only interested in DRUGS because they get paid by the

Drug Companies.

We have a whole section of our Positive Living Centre devoted to natural

medicine for those prepared to study what might work for them. Nepal kept lots

of HIV+ve injecting drug users alive for years before they had access to ART's.

One of the problems of course is that even natural therapies can be expensive

which in itself is a problem when ART's are not free. It would be a service to

the Positive Community if NACO was more aware of the useful Immune Function

Enhancers so as to remove the quackery from the sector.

Thanks for reading.

Geoffrey

--

Geoff Heaviside

Convenor - Brimbank Community Initiatives Inc

Convenor - Brimbank International Student Support Services

Secretary - International Centre for Health Equity Inc

Member - Australasian Society for HIV Medicine Inc

P.O. Box 2400 s Lakes 3038

Melbourne . Australia.

Ph: +61 418 328 278

Ph/Fax : (61 3) 9449 1856

Ph: India : 9840 097 178

Ph: Nepal : 9849 174 329