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With a marked shift in people’s preference for integration of modern and traditional medicines, Ayurveda is gaining popularity in many of the European countries, says Martin Mittweda, Director of Academic Studies, European Academy of Ayurveda, Birstein, Germany.
Germany – as the nerve centre of ayurveda – is leading the change in Europe while other countries like Switzerland, Austria are joining the bandwagon. In Switzerland, he said there was a referendum among people which showed that 80 per cent preferred an integration of modern and traditional medicines. As a result, the country has seen the spread of this traditional Indian system of medicine in the recent years.
Mittweda, who is also a Sanskrit scholar, told BusinessLine that the European Academy of Ayurveda enrols 150 students for the masters programme in ayurveda every year from different parts of the developed world such as Lativia, New Zealand, Luxembourg, the UK and Sweden among others. The academy also offers courses in ayurvedic massage, nutritional consultancies, yoga and ayurvedic psychology.
Mittweda was here to participate in the international ayurveda conclave – Vajra 2016 – organised by Vaidyaratnam Oushadhasala. According to Mittewada, the increasing acceptance to this oldest healthcare system, especially in the developed world, will in turn help its growth in India.
“Ayurveda is a scientific system and not a belief system. It can be logically explained and this will help for its future growth”, Mittweda said. Both ayurveda and modern medicines relies on the same ingredients to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Ayurveda could identify this disease 2000 years ago, whereas modern medicine could do it only in the last 150 years.
Complementing the recent visit of the Indian Ayush Minister to the European Academy campus, he said this will further boost ties between India and Germany in the development of ayurveda.
However, he emphasised the need for marketing ayurvedic products in Europe under medicinal tag rather than the present form as health supplements, while the Chinese medicines, which entered Europe 20 years ago, is selling as medicines.
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