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The entrance to Goas largest ayurvedic hospital looks like the entrance to a modern western hospital. However, upon passing through the doors, the difference is quite noticeable. One is struck by the smell of camphor, mint and cinnamon.
In the countryside of the Indian province of Goa lies a hospital surrounded by rice paddies and fruit orchards. A resplendent botanical garden with over 1,000 medicinal herbs plays a central role in the hospital’s activities. The medicines used are prepared in the laboratory and are then manually assembled in the hospital’s pharmacy. All of the doctors take part in the process of producing the medicines.
First hit by a motorcycle, then bitten by a cobra
The round passes through the men’s wards which have spacious light rooms with 8 – 10 beds in each. Around each patient are relatives at work with making the bed, fetching food and cleaning. A man is sitting on the edge of his bed, both legs very swollen. He has been hit by a motorcycle whereafter he was bitten by a cobra in both legs. He has received serum, but the doctors opinion is that it is now the man’s own responsibility to change his way of living in order to prevent something similar from happening again.
What characterizes ayurvedic medicine is its holistic approach. When a patient comes to the hospital, the doctor has a lengthy conversation with the patient in order to arrive at a diagnosis based on among other things, the three ayurvedic types of individuals (vata, pitta, kapha), dietary habits, life style, social status and, of course, illnesses. This results in prescribing an ayurvedic plan of treatment (panchakarma). The treatment is managed by the hospital’s doctors together with third and fourth year medical students.
 Students also works as medical personnel
It takes six years to become a doctor. The 300 students alternate between theory and practice at the hospital. The students also work as medical personnel. The third and fourth year students assist the doctors. The aim of research conducted at the university hospital is to have ayurvedic medicine accepted as equal to western medicine. This is why great emphasis is placed on comparing effects and side effects with those of western medicine. Simultaneously, new facts and discoveries are added to the age old knowledge taught at the university. Statistics show that patient treatment here is on a par with treatment in western hospitals.
Facts
Gomatak Ayurveda Mahavidyakaya Research Center and Hospital
The university hospital was founded in 1993. The hospital at present receives some 25,000 patients per year. Fifty patients are received daily at the walk in clinics. The twenty doctors also work as teachers. The 300 students first undergo 4½ years medical education, whereafter they practice at the hospital. The training is in English, however, all also learn Sanskrit. The hospital has all the usual departments as in a western hospital: geriatrics, pathology, obstetrics and surgery.
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