Ayurveda to boost kids’ immunity in Kerala

KOCHI: As the unvaccinated children are preparing to resume their physical classes, the state health department has approved a series of ayurveda preventive medicines to prevent the risk of health problems.

The medicines will be available at the various government ayurveda hospitals and Ayur Raksha clinics.

The decision was taken after the state ayurveda Covid response cell (SACRC) submitted an action plan for ayurveda prophylactic care in children under project Kiranam. The action plan is based on the recommendations of Ayush ministry.

“We request parents to consider the medication as it is an effective preventive and builds resistance against easy infection in children. There are different kinds of medicines and itthey will be prescribed according to the child’s general and vulnerability to catch infection easily. We will be conducting school camps if asked by the school authorities with parental permission,” said Dr V J Sebby, Kerala state government ayurveda medical officers’ association.

The association has called on the local bodies and school authorities to work together for protection of children who have not yet been vaccinated. “The customized medicines will be given through ayur raksha clinics,” he added.

Dr Sebby said several people who have properly taken the ayurveda medicines have managed to avoid developing serious conditions even after they got infected with Covid.

SACRC has been implementing several programmes to prevent, mitigate and rehabilitate Covid patients in the state by coordinating all the ayurvedic departments. Amritham, the ayurvedic preventive strategy for Covid-19 quarantined individuals, has gained wide acceptance and has shown clinically viable results in various studies.

“As the vaccination for the under 18 age group has not begun, the Ayush department may extend the benefit of the ayurvedic preventive medicines to them through a targeted strategy. Hence, the coordinator of SACRC has proposed Kiranam- the Ayurvedic Preventive Strategy for Covid-19 in children,” he said.

The implementation will be under a medical officer holding the specialty of Kaumarabrithya (ayurvedic paediatrics) in each district who will be designated as nodal officer of the Kiranam programme to facilitate its execution.

In the absence of such experts in the districts, a medical officer with experience in handling paediatric conditions will be appointed as the nodal officer.

The data on Kiranam will be collected using the approved case record form published with the Amritham Covid preventive programme and will be submitted to SACRC periodically for scientific evaluation and reporting.