It was a health camp with a difference. Hundreds of patients came for consultation, diagnosis and advice from doctors at a free health camp held every morning through three days from March 20 to 22 at the Indian Research Institute for Integrated Medicine (IRIIM) in Mourigram. The consultation, however, did not yield any prescriptions. Rather, consulting doctors advised alternative therapies, particularly yoga and acupuncture. 

This was the 34th annual programme of IRIIM where different awareness programmes were organised through seminars, discussions and workshops held through the three days. A yoga workshop was held every morning, conducted by defence scientist, Dr Ramgopal, who is also the chairman of IRIIM. While naturopathy and yoga have always been an important part of IRIIM’s research work, in recent years, acupuncture has become a recognised method of treatment too. 

“The World Health Organisation (WHO) is trying to merge traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM) into the mainstream health care systems around the world. This will include drugless therapy and treatment. In a survey, 80 per cent of the countries of the world have recognised the use of acupuncture. However, India does not feature in that 80 per cent,” said Dr Debasish Bakshi, honorary secretary of IRIIM. 

In order to create awareness about acupuncture, a discussion was held on March 20 on Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis and the Indian Medical Mission to China from 1938-43. Dr S F Elahee from Bangladesh elaborated on how acupuncture has become a popular treatment in Bangladesh and is proving to be beneficial. Later, the film, Dr Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani was screened at the institute. Seminars on organic food and nutrition and healthy lifestyle were held over the next two days. 

Hyperacidity was another ailment that was focussed on. A workshop was organised on the chronic ailment. “We had 60 delegates attending the workshop where we discussed integrated diagnosis, treatment and management of hyper acidity with the help of acupuncture, yoga and naturopathy,” said Bakshi. 
A building extension work is also in progress at IRIIM. “We plan to start a separate block for naturopathy, yoga and meditation at the centre. For this we have collected about Rs 20 lakh but we are still falling short of funds,” said Bakshi.