India’s first Ayurveda protocols to be launched

Ayush secretary Vaid Rajesh Kotecha will launch the diagnostic protocol on Monday

India’s first diagnostic protocols for Ayurveda are all set to be unveiled next week.

Developed by Jiva Ayurveda for four years through a major data analytical project, the protocol will be launched by Ayush secretary Vaid Rajesh Kotecha on July 16.

The protocols – and the decision support system built over them — help Ayurveda practitioners anywhere in the world arrive at the correct diagnosis in a data-driven way.

Unlike Allopathy, which is focused on symptoms and standardized drug choices, Ayurveda is fundamentally a personalized system of medicine

The system also categorizes the diseases in terms of severity, which has a direct bearing on prognosis. As the consultation protocol flows, based on patient answers, the system starts assigning weights to different diagnostic possibilities and makes calculations to arrive at an authoritative diagnosis.

It helps avoid judgmental errors and the cost of wrong diagnosis. It also suggests diagnostic clues that the doctor may have missed which may lead to a possible different line of treatment.

It is well known that unlike Allopathy, which is focused on symptoms and standardized drug choices, Ayurveda is fundamentally a personalized system of medicine. However without data and evidence, it’s inclusion as a medical science is not possible. The big question for Ayurveda practitioners is: “How do you standardize a system of medicine that is fundamentally personalized, with patients being given different treatment based on the root cause, even if the symptoms are the same?” As a result, Ayurvedic medicines can’t be exported to other countries and Ayurvedic practitioners abroad are forced to operate as “Health & Wellness Coaches.”

The protocol will be the first step in changing that.