Stage set for redefining health and wellness after Covid-19
By Dr. M. A. Mohamed Saleem-May 11, 2020Life will not be same again after Covid-19. No one knows as to when the virus will lose its lethal virulence in contact with humans. This pandemic has called to question the globalization myth. Promoted as unique interconnectedness for international cooperation and collective development globalization had always been a ploy by more powerful nations to lure the weaker and the less developed countries into that ‘international’ fold and gain free access to their rich and untapped natural resources. None of these ‘partner poor countries’ is able to make independent decisions even when it comes to its own development as all are now trapped internationally by heavy debt burdens. Free trade and unrestricted movement of goods and services across boarders hailed to be hallmarks of globalization game but, when Covid-19 arrived, countries within the same union closed borders and withheld even essential healthcare supplies moving to the adjoining country. Instead of strengthening combined efforts to combat the virus some developed countries looked inwards: USA took a step further by withdrawing support for WHO which has a global healthcare mandate. This has set the stage for a new era of nationalism and redefining health and wellness in the future.
Frontline healthcare workers are risking their lives under very difficult circumstances to save others. There is an unknown virus and, health workers are made to confront it without appropriate weapons in the medical arsenal. Social-distancing, face masking and dis-infecting are aimed only to "flatten the curve" and slow down the pace of virus spread. With all claims of advanced diagnostics and therapeutics the virus had a free ride, shifting disease epicenters. Compared previously expressed forms the virus in Covid-19 seems to undergo an accelerated evolution and keeps everyone guessing as to how it would manifest in humans, making it difficult for developing unified control strategies.
Covid-19 is not the only microbe and millions of them intermingle with all life forms. According to some estimates human gastro-intestinal tract alone is home to 100 trillion microbial units and they establish an equilibrium among them and also with the host cells in a healthy body. Microbiologists also inform us that composition of the micro-biomes vary from person to person thus, causing variation in body immune responses to fight diseases. Immunity is a phenomenon of being unsusceptible to a number of infectious diseases caused by a biomolecular particle(s) of non-self-origin and, natural immunity is the result of immunological memories which trigger (combat) response to such particle. Naturally developed immunity is therefore taken to be a lifelong defense mechanism.
Conventional healthcare wisdom based on germ theory looks for any microscopic culprit that invades to make a person sick. Depending on varying symptoms and dominant microbe(s) identified in a group of patients different labels (Dengue, Chicken Gunya, SARS, MARS etc.…) are attached to make them (a set of microbe/symptoms) different illnesses. Need for different control strategies is then justified ultimately calling for vaccines. Although there are active pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine groups, commercial lobbies of large vaccine producing pharmaceutical companies only get to determine use of vaccines. As a result, in some countries like the USA 16 vaccines in 45 doses have been made mandatory as a child reaches 5 years of age and many more thereafter. We also read reports of vaccine safety protocols being compromised or not fully researched particularly when there is a crisis like a pandemic and, as vaccine-manufacturers are protected from prosecution by law for vaccine-use mishaps, large number of vaccines continue to be introduced and possibility of sub-quality vaccines entering the market cannot be ruled out.
Diagnostic techniques cannot decipher whether an illness manifested is actually caused by the ‘new’ microbe or, as a result of its entry into the human cell, some other latent microbe(s) already in the patient is activated to cause that illness. Vaccine produced based on the ‘new’ (Covid-19) microbe ‘template’ will however become a worldwide recommendation and people will forcibly be vaccinated from now on regardless of the majority (asymptomatic) carriers have already shown strong natural immunity against the disease. Effectiveness of vaccines in general are of impermanent duration and therefore, as in the case of influenza, vaccination against Covid-19 may have to be repeated annually. Such a practice will continue until the stock lasts although by the time a vaccine is ready the virus may have mutated taking a different genetic pathway making that vaccine inappropriate. The Covid-19 Pandemic has been used to create so much fear people will accept anything (like vaccination) imposed on them and smaller countries have no choice to resist international pressure to comply.
Many who tested Covid-19 positive and have been in voluntary or enforced quarantine came out clean without any medication. A kind of self-generated immunity is what contributed to their recovery and, it is this protective mechanism that humans are normally endowed with. Measures that maintain and strengthen the innate immunity will therefore ensure natural protection against any foreign ‘invader’ and contribute to human wellness.
Research suggests that people are fast losing natural immunity due to change in life style that is disconnected with nature and constantly in search for more comforts and conveniences. Automation, processed and fast foods, leisure and licentiousness, synthetic medicines, stimulants and sleeplessness now characterize modern living. Culture of pill for every ill and excessive use of antibiotics that cause constant changes in the internal biome seem to disrupt the natural rhythms for healthy life.
Countries under Covid-19 lockdowns are desperate to revive the economy and prevent possible civil unrest. Against medical advice all countries will reopen even before a vaccine is ready to contain the virus. This is where some re-thinking is needed about the health system that the world had so far relied upon.
There is another world of complementary medicines (CM) with practitioners having undergone many years of specialized training in reputed institutions. Unfortunately, they do not have the wherewithal to stand against the pharmaceutical-mafia campaign calling CM medicines as quackery, unscientific and unsophisticated craftsmanship. Many countries, including Sri Lanka recognize CM and millions are beneficiaries. Sadly, CM practitioners are not given due importance by health Policy Makers and, their medical opinions carry no weight, particularly when it comes to Covid-19 emergencies. Despite this, the CM practitioners constantly are making claims to have remedies to prevent and treat viral infections, including Covid-19.
Homeopathy is one such complementary healthcare system and since its introduction in Germany by Dr.Samuel Hahnemann many countries have adopted it. Homeopathy had played a significant healing role in many past endemics/pandemics. Homeopathy medicines claim to trigger body immune strengthening functions whereby establishing a blanket natural protective cover and, even in case of a disease outbreak effects are milder to contain. When Covid-19 broke out AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) ministry of India recommended, among many other measures, a homeopathy drug for prevention as well as cure. States like Kerala and Gujarat following this recommendation have reported success and, according to the Principal Secretary of Gujarat Health Ministry, people who were given homeopathic medicines in 179 Covid-19 Quarantine Centers came out free of the virus without any fatalities. This has prompted other States like Tamil Nadu and Delhi to follow.
When Sri Lanka reopens after lockdowns, in spite of continued Covid-19 threat, social distancing and basic hygiene will be needed but difficult to maintain particularly when schools restart. At this critical juncture no harm done by adopting complementary medicines and if found effective for Covid-19 prevention and cure, as CM practitioners’ claim, the question of a vaccine may not even arise. There is no excuse for not calling CM practitioners to the field even at this point in time. Covid-19 crisis is also an opportunity for everyone to seriously consider healthcare alternatives. During the lockdown conventional healthcare outlets were not accessible and more people claim to have benefitted from the CM practitioners. Unlike India, Sri Lankans are yet to fully utilize alternative healthcare systems. Time has come for tapping combined strengths from all healthcare systems in this country rather than being swayed only by self-serving Pharma-influenced medical advice.
