By Our Reporter
Shillong: Khasi indigenous healing system needs proper documentation, said Faculty member of project management of Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU) Iban Pyngrope.
Addressing a programme on “training on documentation, assessment of local health tradition and survey of flora used in local health tradition”, organized by the MLCU here on Tuesday, Pyngrope said though Khasi indigenous medicines had a widespread acceptance in the region; yet it lacked documentation.
“Though the method has not been codified, yet the oral tradition has a widespread acceptance,” Pyngrope said.
Elaborating further on this, Pyngrope said each major tribe had their own traditional healing system adding that in Meghalaya it is widely practised in the rural and urban areas.
Pyngrope also informed a recent survey, conducted at Mawlam, East Khasi Hills district, revealed that traditional medicines were widely used and the respondents were familiar with traditional medicines.
He also said the survey also found that the respondents believed that traditional healing system was effective in several diseases and “moreover it is cost-effective also”.
Pointing out the difference between folk medicine and Ayurvedic medicine, Hari Ramamurthi of Institute of Ayurveda and Integrative medicine (IAIM)-FRLHT, said folk medicine was based on oral tradition “in which the knowledge of medicine is being practised in the family and handed down from one generation to the next adding that folk medicine is an unwritten knowledge.” “Ayurvedic system is well documentated and is taught in several institutions,” Ramamurthi added.