It remains a mystery as to why notwithstanding astonishing development made in the last century or so, the modern medicine and surgery, also known as Allopathy, is often looked with suspicion by a sizeable number of people across the world.
There is cure for most of the chronic diseases in Allopathy, though it would be inappropriate to overlook the importance of Homoeopathy, Ayurvedic, Unani or the traditional Chinese mode of treatment.
There may be hardly any person on the planet who has not taken the allopathy medicine or undergone surgery. Be it is for deadly diseases like cancer, tuberculosis, cardiac problem etc. or fatal injuries, accident or any pandemic the first response is to rush to hospital, where allopathy mode of treatment is normally provided. Lives of millions of patients on death-bed are saved every year
Yet it is this mode of treatment which is questioned by a good number of people in the world. Even in the West people on many occasions rely on herbal alternatives and home-remedies.
The research work and subsequent vaccination drive for COVID-19 has further exposed this shortcoming compelling the President-elect Joe Biden in the United States, Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and King Salman of Saudi Arabia to offer themselves for the initial shots and thus set examples. Not only the common masses, even the doctors and other health-care workers are not very keen to take the vaccine as they suspect the role of big multinational companies. They are of the view that these vaccines are the outcome of hastily researched efforts and thus one should be cautious in taking them.
The Allopathy medicine has an inherent problem of selecting guinea pigs, especially for experimenting vaccines and other medicines. Many a time unethical practices are adopted. For example, according to the media reports, residents of gas-hit localities of Bhopal alleged that they were not informed previously that trial vaccine is being given to them. Later, one person, Deepak Maravi died. Family members and those living in the vicinity told the media that he had no history of any disease. The government has ordered probe into the matter.
In the West slave men and women, prisoners of war, especially those injured, and aboriginals were used for this purpose in the past. Wounded soldiers of the enemies were used as guinea pigs. These practices are still prevalent in one form or the other.
The Father of Gynaecology, James Marion Simms, had in the 19th century performed surgeries on many Black women in the United States – at least in one case several operations were performed on one woman just for the sake of research.
In spite of this great achievement there is a need to examine the reason behind the modern medicine becoming such a maligned mode of treatment in the eyes of the people. Primarily this is because the modern medicine became a weapon for the expansion of western imperialism and to eradicate the Native Americans or what is often referred to as Red Indians in North and South America, and aboriginal population in Australia and New Zealand.
In Africa diseases were spread not only among the Black people but also among their cattle. As Africans were contended with their farmland, jungles and cattle, the European colonists wanted to destroy all these three assets and thus render them poor and without any work. This was largely because these Europeans needed slaves to work in hazardous jobs, especially in the New World, that is North and South Americas.
It is largely with the help of diseases deliberately spread by the colonial masters that Africans could be overpowered and then subsequently transported to Americas to clear forests, work in mines, road construction, cotton and sugarcane plantations and later in the laying down of rail tracks. They were also used as soldiers to fight the war against the original population as well as other enemies, that is competing European colonisers. Thus, they, with the help of modern medicine, exploited the rich wealth of these three continents.
It is not just that the modern medicine was misused to exterminate indigenous population in a large part of the world in the 18th and 19th centuries alone. As late as in 1980s HIV/AIDS was deliberately spread by France and the United States. The disease wreaked havoc killing millions.
The role of big pharmaceutical firms in the spread of diseases cannot be under-estimated. They have their lobbies in the ruling clique of various countries and many critics allege that they even influence international bodies, such as World Health Organisation.
Thus modern medicine have become a tool in the hands of corporate houses to become rich in no time. The treatment has become very costly and in several cases doctors too have unfortunately become a part of this whole racket. Gradually the philanthropic aspect has been lost.
The concept of health-tourism is a unique one. How can poor health be linked to tourism? Not only that governments across the world have started helping big insurance companies with their policies. In all these cases the beneficiaries are usually not the firms manufacturing Homoeopathic, Unani or Ayurvedic medicine.
Besides, the rules and regulations have, particularly in the western countries, become so complicated that many people have started opting for home-remedies and herbal alternatives. Though they may not be a cure for all the ailments yet the users feel that they have little side-effects and safe for common diseases.
Pandemic like coronavirus has provided an opportunity to take a re-look at the modern medicine, which has been taken over by the capitalists and imperialist powers. Even many self-less doctors regret this corporatisation of otherwise a very successful mode of treatment.