Misleading ads and propaganda in the name of Ayurveda

Anoop Menon, the actor, is well known in Kerala. He is also the ambassador for multiple brands. Dhathri is one such brand which rides on the bandwagon of Ayurveda. The advertising and business fraternity in India got their attention on them because of a very unique order passed by a consumer court in Kerala penalizing both for misleading customers. It could be a beginning for brand ambassadors to be more cautious in the advertisements they appear. Where else in India could such orders come other than Kerala. An aware citizen from Kerala holding the company and the celebrity responsible for their claims! It is another matter that the mainstream media in Kerala gave the news a miss.

Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) had issued a notification allowing Ayurveda doctors to perform around 58 types of surgeries on some conditions. Since then, doctors from modern medicine (allopathy) and Ayurveda have been on each other’s throat. Modern medicine doctors do not want to lose their vanguard position in public health. Ayurveda doctors believe that the notification is only clarifying the prevailing fact that the Ayurveda doctors are trained and have been performing these surgeries. Why this petty quarrel? We are a large country with not even 1 doctor for every 1000 citizen. We need more helping hands. Why some from their pedestal of privileges stop the unfortunate from accessing better healthcare than what they have now. Dr Sanjay Nagral wrote a beautiful article in The Hindu which can also be accessed on his Twitter page.

Incidents like Dhathri give modern medicine an excuse to berate Ayurveda!

Meanwhile, we have a new budget announced, a populist budget considering the oncoming election. It is a futile exercise considering that the new government will have a budget again.

It is good to note that remittances to Kerala from citizens overseas have been steady in the last few months. This has come as a great relief as an economic indicator. Opening up of tourism can shore up the economy at large.

Lastly, do you know that the Chief Minister of Kerala has a public dashboard? Information on fingertips! This seems to be a central government project to have a dashboard for all chief ministers. But none other seems to have it live. Here you can check Kerala CM dashboard. But you might not find there yet that the debt per head in Kerala is ₹1 lakh!

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