Chennai: The traditional ‘Siddha’ system of medicine has come in more than handy in the treatment of COVID-19 patients in Tamil Nadu. So far nearly 6,000 people in Tamil Nadu have been cured of the contagion in dedicated facilities across the stat. This information was given by official sources Monday.
‘Siddha’ treatment has helped to successfully treat 5,725 patients at 11 exclusive Siddha COVID-19 Care Centres (CCC) in Tamil Nadu. The figures are till August 7, the sources added. People have also recovered in Chennai through the ‘Siddha’ system of medicine.
The Siddha CCC facilities are at the Jawahar Vidyalaya and Dr Ambedkar Government Arts College in Vyasarpadi. They are offering Siddha-based treatment for asymptomatic patients. So far the facilities have treated nearly 3,200 patients as on August 7.
While 434 patients are undergoing treatment in the two centres here, 715 persons are undergoing treatment at 12 Siddha CCC in the districts. Next to Chennai, Vellore has been handling the maximum number of positive cases, treating 1,258 people, sources pointed out.
The exclusive Siddha treatment centres function from Tiruvannamalai, Thachur, Vellore, Thirupathur, Ranipet, Tenkasi, Villupuram and Coimbatore. Two more centres were started at Salem and Pudukottai recently.
The Tamil Nadu government had earlier ordered use of ‘kabasura kudineer’. It is a herbal concoction regarded as immune booster and capable of combating viral infections.
Chief Minister K Palaniswami had launched the ‘Arokyam’ special programme with AYUSH intervention for COVID-19 in April. The programme included Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy, to be included in the fight against COVID-19.
“It is very difficult to isolate the role of ‘Siddha in treating COVID-19 patients’. This is because the ‘Kabasura’ concoction is administered to patients, visitors and even medical professionals in all government CCCs in TN,” said a senior official at the directorate of Indian Medicine. Moreover, ‘Kabasura’ concoction is given regularly to the police, public and even the health and sanitation workers, as a precaution, he added.
A typical day at the Siddha CCC dawns with gargling using salt water, a session of Yoga, pranayama and mudra practice. The patients are also provided counselling.
Their diet includes Thinai Pongal (a dish made with foxtail millet), Thuthuvalai thuvaiyal (Solanum Trilobatum), a medicinal plant food to address respiratory problems and Vazhaipoo poriyal (made with banana blossom). The patients are also given other herbal food preparation.
As of Sunday, Tamil Nadu’s cumulative tally of COVID-19 cases stood at 2,96,901, including 2,38,638 recoveries.