Bring AYUSH under the proposed Consumer Protection Law, Dear Modiji????

The new initiative of Modiji to bring a strong consumer protection law is a welcome move. A strong/stringent consumer protection law is must to protect the interests of the consumers from making false and misleading advertisements, promoting pseudo science and attract innocent minds through fake claims.

The important point is that how the consumer protection law is going protect the consumers from AYUSH products and its treatments? The AYUSH products both the Sastric and proprietary/patent products carry several therapeutic claims. The institutionally qualified AYUSH vaidyas do offer treatment to various diseases. They mostly write the diagnosis based on their Tridosha principle and claim their products would correct the tridosha imbalances leading to cure.

The question is what would be the consequence of tridosha imbalance when the patients take AYUSH products along with scientifically proven allopathic drugs because such information will not be their in any of the holy texts of AYSUH. Can the consumer approach the court under the newly proposed law for detailed explanations from AYUSH authorities? Otherwise are we not subjecting the consumers to seek medical treatment based merely on faith and some unsubstantiated convictions? Can the demand for proof for Tridosha be brought under consumer protection law?

The question is whether the proposed stringent consumer law protect the rights of the patient in knowing how the vaidya has diagnosed the disease based on the Tridosha/other principles of their system and how the AYUSH products correct the tridosha imbalance and how the patient can confirm / experience the effect of the AYUSH products prescribed by the vaidya are doing the promised job etc. If the consumer is not getting a satisfactory answer from the vaidya who has offered such treatment, the patient must be protected to file the consumer complaint and seek legal remedy? This caveat is must in the proposed consumer protection law because we are dealing not just health and welfare but multi-various medical problems and their consequences to the society at large, beyond the patients those who seek such therapy. Many diseases when diagnosed wrongly or treat with ineffective drugs, the disease can easily reach an epidemic to pandemic proportion in our country.

Will the new consumer law will entertain the stale logic that AYUSH is an age old traditional system, gifted to mankind by God, therefore no question should be asked about Tridosha or the efficacy of its products owing to their religious origin etc., and thus would burry the rights of the patient and allow such medication health fraud to thrive.

All services /products that are given to public must come under the above law with reference to its merit.

When we bring AYUSH treatment under health insurance ambit, certainly AYUSH also must be brought under stringent consumer protection law. Otherwise the AYUSH would continue to dodge under dumb-lame excuses and the best example being the doubts over the efficacy of Nilavembu kudineer and the subsequent justifications given by the Siddha fraternity in Tamil Nadu.

The question relating to the efficacy of Nilavembu kudineer for Dengue was when raised, the people concerned proudly showcased poorly articulated, executed and written articles published mostly in predatory journals and journals of low scientific credence as great evidence. If the Siddha system and its services are brought under strong consumer protection law, consumers of Nilavembu kudineer can file complaint under the said law demanding impeccable scientific evidence on the efficacy of Nilavembu kudineer from the Siddha authorities for making such claims and appropriate legal explanations for promoting such unproven products of traditional health care practice with tall therapeutic claims. Also financial compensation can be sought.

The consumer protection law should empower the consumers to seek explanations from Siddha experts on how they have extrapolated many disease descriptions mentioned in the ancient texts so conclusively and convincingly as Dengue/other modern day disease terminologies!!!!!

Huge compensation/legal actions are if allowed against AYUSH service providers for not providing unbeatable evidence to substantiate the medical claims, automatically the system would find its place as paramedical practice and would richly benefit the society. But today AYUSH enjoys the glory and privilege of medical science without having even a single drug from the system with complete science on standardization, shelf life data, pharmaceutical principle (s), target site, bioavailability, rate of metabolism, dosage etc.

The strong consumer protection law exclusively for AYUSH will certainly put harness to AYUSH industries from exploiting the faith and innocence of poor people. Some AYUSH practitioners who over hype the system to attract the patients also would automatically restrain from doing so fearing the consumer compensation and associated litigation.

The consumer law must define all AYUSH services and its products under its purview instead of excusing AYUSH as a traditional system so the system can be allowed to promote pseudoscience and cross pathy.

In fact, the proposed consumer protection law must have a separate chapter devoted for AYUSH and every aspect of AYUSH to make the system answerable and accountable. Even if the Government and AYSUH do not want to reform AYUSH, at least let us allow the consumers and consumer protection law to reform AYUSH and let us prevent medication health fraud and poor people wasting their hard earned wages. Epidemiological understanding of various disease burdens in our nation also we should not affect by promoting unscientific practices as medical science.

Dr S Ranganathan