Naturopathy as career option

Ranjan K Baruah *

Studying medicine and becoming health practitioner is a dream for many students. Most guardians in India still want their child to be doctor if they get good mark after board exams. As there is demand for medical entrances and admission there has been increase in coaching institutes.

In spite of many efforts most of the students do not get admission in prestigious colleges or many do not get into any colleges which offer MBBS course. I am publishing about an option which can be chosen by our students. Well, I am taking about a system od alternate medicine ore healing which is known as Naturopathy.

Naturopathy or naturopathic medicine is a form of alternative medicine that employs an array of pseudoscientific practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", and as promoting "self-healing".

The ideology and methods of naturopathy are based on vitalism and folk medicine, rather than evidence-based medicine. Naturopathic practitioners generally recommend against following modern medical practices, including but not limited to medical testing, drugs, vaccinations, and surgery.

It is a system of man building in harmony with the constructive principles of Nature on physical, mental, moral and spiritual planes of living. It has great health promotive, disease preventive and curative as well as restorative potential.

According to the manifesto of British Naturopathic Association, "Naturopathy is a system of treatment which recognizes the existence of the vital curative force within the body." It therefore, advocates aiding human system to remove the cause of disease i.e. toxins by expelling the unwanted and unused matters from human body for curing diseases.

The term "naturopathy" was created from "natura" (Latin root for birth) and "pathos" (the Greek root for suffering) to suggest "natural healing". Naturopathy is an art and science of healthy living and a drugless system of healing based on well founded philosophy.

It has its own concept of health and disease and also principle of treatment. Naturopathy is a very old science. We can find a number of references in our Vedas and other ancient texts. The morbid matter theory, concept of vital force and other concepts upon which Naturopathy is based are already available in old texts.

The revival of Naturopathy started in India by translation of Germany's Louis Kuhne's book "New Science of Healing". Shri D. Venkat Chelapati Sharma translated this book in Telgu language in 1894. Shri Shroti Kishan Swaroop of Bijnor translated this book into Hindi and Urdu languages in 1904. All this gave a wide propagation to this system. We shall publish including courses and institutes in India in our forthcoming edition.

Scholarships / Fellowships Updates:

Rotary Peace Fellowships: Each year, Rotary selects up to 100 individuals from around the world to receive fully funded academic fellowships to pursue a Professional Development Certificate Program or Masters Degree Program related to peace and conflict resolution and prevention at one of the participating peace centers around the world (USA, Japan, UK, Australia, Sweden and Thailand).

Host Institution(s) includes: Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, International Christian University, Japan, University of Bradford, England, University of Queensland, Australia, Uppsala University, Sweden and Chulalongkorn University, Thailand (certificate program). Interested may communicate with Rotary Clubs in their respective areas.

OCSI Scholarship: The Oxford and Cambridge Society of India, OCSI announces Scholarships for 2018-19 sessions to graduates from Indian Universities who have obtained admission in either Oxford or Cambridge. The Oxford and Cambridge Society of India Scholarships are part-cost awards for Undergraduate, Second Undergraduate, Graduate study and Research in any subject available at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, UK.

The scholarships offered by OCSI are Equal Opportunity, i.e. the decisions made in awarding these scholarships are not based on race, colour, religion, disability, age (except for maximum age criterion), sex or ancestry. Aspirants may apply before 15th May.