With most of the swine flu deaths in India being attributed to severe pneumonia, the Ministry of Health has for the first time looked towards traditional Indian medicine for preventing the disease and released a set of recommendations following deliberations by a group of Ayurveda and Unani experts.

On Thursday evening, Ayush — the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy — recommended a concoction of five readily available herbal ingredients — tulsi leaves, ginger, black pepper, turmeric

and guduchi — to be had morning and evening. About 10 grams of the mixture is to be boiled in three cups of water, mixed with some honey and consumed.

“We are not talking about treatment... It is just prevention and increasing body immunity that we are talking about,” said a senior officer of the ministry, who didn’t want to be named. “The symptoms like fever, cold, cough and chest congestion fall in the category of Vaata Kaphaja Jawara, we have given preventive measures for that,” the official said.

Ayush also recommends medicines like Sudarshan Danwati and Sudarshan Churan made of gilolya for mild flu-like symptoms. “This is like paracetamol in traditional medicine,” the official said.

The department had set up a group of experts for suggesting traditional interventions useful in the prevention / treatment of flu-like diseases.

The group, comprising Ayurveda experts and physicians from Government and private hospitals, research councils and the Department of Ayush, was of the view that viral epidemics come under the “Vaata Kaphaja Jwara” category mentioned in Charak Samhita and other ancient Ayurvedic texts and mostly seen autumn / spring, in seasonal change and in moderate climatic conditions.

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