MALAPPURAM: Seeking Ayurveda lessons from an authentic source, a team of doctors and medical students from Germany arrived in Kottakkal, a town in the district which is known around the world as the city of Ayurveda. The team led by Dr. Thomas Rampp, the assistant clinical director of the department of Integrated Medicine, University of Duisburg Essen, Germany, has enrolled at the Vaidyaratnam P.S. Varier Ayurveda College of the Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala for a 20-day-long course as part of an MoU signed by the institutions earlier.
“In the Western world, Ayurveda is often abused as wellness medicine. We want to tap the potential of this medical system in an authentic way and our effort is to popularize Ayurveda in Germany backed by a high standard of education. That is why we have selected only senior physicians and students for this course,” Dr. Rampp told DC. University of Duisburg Essen is the only varsity in Germany which provides Ayurveda education.
“Ayurveda has great possibilities in Germany as more people have started seeking alternative medicine. With the collaboration of Kottakkal Ayurveda College, we aim to train more Ayurvedic physicians to cater to the needs of Germans,” said Dr. Syal Kumar, associate professor of Traditional Indian Medicine at the University of Duisburg Essen. The German physicians will get practical training and classes in Swasthavritha (preventive medicine), Kayachiktsa (General Medicine), Dravyaguna (Pharmacology) and Panchakarma.
“Modern medicine practitioners in Germany can seek the possibilities in alternative medicine and integrate both. Ayurveda has great potential in this regard. We have many chronic deceases where conventional medicine cannot provide a cure. For instance in the case of inflammatory bowel diseases and different kinds of pains. Patients therefore urgently seek alternative medicines. We wanted to show them this alternative is practical,” Dr Rampp said. “There is obviously a dearth of Ayurvedic physicians in Germany to cater to the ever increasing number of patients who seek the help of alternative medicine. I hope this course will help us to get more practical knowledge to help them out,” said Dr. Natalia Vdovichenko, a gynaecologist and a member of the team.
