Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Guidelines to manage Flu-like Symptoms

Guidelines issued to manage common flu-like symptoms
TNN 2 September 2009, 04:21am IST

LUCKNOW: Seeing that over 95% of the patients reporting at government hospitals with flu-like symptoms suffered with seasonal flu, ministry of health and family welfare (MOHFW) has issued a circular that talks about Ayush interventions for management of common flu-like conditions.

In Lucknow alone, an average of a 100 samples of suspected cases of H1N1 are being examined every day. A decision to this effect was taken in view of increasing number of persons testing positive to H1N1 infection in the country.

The document, which was shared by health officials on Tuesday, says that most of the viral fevers including various types of flu come under the vaata kapha jwara category and are seen in autumn and spring seasons when seasons and climatic conditions change. Ayurveda has advised certain preventive measures for building immunity and protecting oneself from vaata kapha jwara diseases.

The guidelines say that: avoid kapha provoking diet like curd, cold food, cold drink, fruit juices especially citrus fruits, left over or overnight food, ice-cream. People should instead drink lukewarm water as virus is generally not able to survive temperature.

Use of decoction (concentrate of herbal extracts) made from a combination of tulsi, ginger, black-pepper, long pepper, guduchi or giola (a herb) is recommended. Turmeric may also be added to this combination. The guidelines say that ayurvedic medicines like sudershanghana vati, sudershana churna and samshamani vati boost the body's defence mechanism. The usage of these herbal medicines should, however, be taken under the guidance of a qualified ayurved acharya.

The Central council for research in unani medicine (CCRUM) has also come out with recommendations for preventive measures available under the Unani system after consultation with experts. A decoction or tea containing unnab, bahidana, sapistan and dalchini may be taken every morning. Specific compound formulations such as habb-e-jadwar, khamira nazli aab tarboozwala, tiryaq-e-farooq may be taken after consultation with a Unani doctor. Local application of roghan baboon, roghan-e-morn, roghan kahu or roghan kadu on the scalp and chest help in saving one from congestion. The word of caution is that they should be used as per the advice of the Unani doctor.

Both the systems recommend light diet and personal hygiene as a mandatory element of healthy life. The note underlines that the guidelines have been prepared after taking into consideration the expert opinion received on the subject and can be used for increasing the immunity to fight various flu-like conditions. They may be adopted by normal healthy persons as well as those who have mild cold, cough or body ache.
 
Source: The Times of India