'Medicine of future': WFEB session on integrative medicine being new paradigm in healing

The World Forum for Ethics in Business (WFEB) is gearing up for the mega virtual event that is scheduled for April 7. Ahead of it, the public interest foundation held a live session on "Integrated Medicine: New Paradigm of Healing". In the 30-minute-long conversation, Dr Prachi Garodia, an internal medicine doctor and a plant-based Ayurvedic chef shared her perspective on how integrative medicine is paving the way to optimal health and wellness. 

Commencing the session with her own introduction, Dr Garodia said that she was currently serving the Veteran's Health Administration in the US and has been working on a "radical transformation of healthcare" from a disease-based model to a more patient-centred model. "We were trained to suppress the symptoms," she said, talking about the modern medicine. However, the real focus, according to her, should be on healing and lifestyle changes. 

'Medicine of the future'

When asked about her take on the paradigm of integrated medicine or "medicine of future", Dr Garodia replied, "Once we look at the dismal state of affairs that we are in, we know that whatever we have right now is not working". Speaking further, she highlighted that there have been pandemics and epidemics of chronic-irreversible disease going up in the recent past. Talking about a solution to the same, she said that a more "proactive" and "right" kind of treatment should have been the basic approach to start with. 

"There would have been a much healthier, happier and more productive population had the right approach be followed. Additionally, there also had been a lesser burnout in the field of healthcare. Integrated medicine provides a good solution to our healthcare system," said Dr Garodia. 

What is integrated medicine?

She also clarified that there have been a lot of names going on like holistic medicine, alternate medicine etc, but all are different. Describing integrated medicine, Dr Garodia said that it functions like conventional medicine while also integrating alternative or traditional treatment practices. "The best way to go ahead is adopting certain traditions which have been practised for thousands of years," she said. 

When asked about applying integrated medicine to daily life, the doctor asserted that she has had tons of stories about healing. She then narrated the case of a paralysed overweight patient who was healed with only little change in diet and lifestyle. She explained that health is not just absence of disease but to find "higher purpose and meaning in life". She added that "most of the time we are looking for outside, while it is inside and we have the power to change that". 

Commenting on the current scenario and how integrated medicine could be applied to the COVID-19 pandemic, she asserted that the treatment, its skillset and modalities could be followed in multiple ways. "First learn how to live everyday life in harmony with the cycle of nature” She concluded that apart from eating and sleeping correctly, improving one’s resilience, paying gratitude could also help in improving mind, body and emotional functioning. "It would not only improve our relationship with oneself but also how we perform at life and communicate with family, friends, society and in fact the whole planet," she said. 

(Image Credits: WFEB/Facebook)