November 18 is Naturopathy Day
NEWDELHI: The Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (Ayush) ministry celebrated the first Naturopathy Day on Sunday with the aim of promoting the drug-less system of medicine to prevent diseases by altering the diet and lifestyle.
“Till now, we had a day to celebrate all the streams of traditional medicine except Naturopathy. Why not have a day for that too? We have seen an increase in non-communicable diseases, mainly owing to the changes in our lifestyle. In such a scenario, Naturopathy plays an important role; many diseases can be prevented with these practices,” said Ayush ministry additional secretary Pramod Pathak.
The International Day of Yoga has been celebrated annually on June 21 since 2015.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has first proposed the idea in his first UN General Assembly speech in 2014.
Two months later, the government created a separate ministry for the traditional medicine system.
Ayurveda Day, which is marked on November 5 every year, was first celebrated in 2016.
Last year came the Unani Day, which was celebrated on February 11.
All six systems got a day with the declaration of two days this year – January 4 as Siddha Day and November 18 as Naturopathy Day.
“This is a drug-less system and is very cost effective. It can be easily integrated with any other system of healthcare as a lifestyle intervention. These practices are being promoted in the wellness centres, along with the allopathic medicine so that we get the best of all systems of medicine,” said Pathak.
Homeopathy, being a German system of alternative medicine, has a World Homeopathy day. It is celebrated on April 10 on the birthday of Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of Homeopathy.
“When it comes to yoga, meditation or a natural diet, even we promote them in patients with lifestyle diseases like slightly elevated blood pressure, manageable sugar, anxiety etc. But people should do these along with proper medical care. And, when it comes to the natural medicines, we need to do more studies to show their efficacy,” said Dr Dilip Kumar, consultant of medicine at Safdarjung hospital.