Health should be the focus.

(Image taken from internet)

Talking about medical science, at least it should have the objective of keeping people healthy. This is the basic thing that cannot be ignored. If this is ignored we enter the maze of fallacies.

When we view everything from the health viewpoint many things will become clear. If we are unwilling to shift our focus from disease to health, there will be swaying of opinion and debates will continue.

Health is an extremely simple subject. What today's brand of medicine has done is to make things very very complex. As a result we have unending theories. The entry of the powerful in the 18th century and the drastic steps after that have changed course and medicine has lost its way. We feel we need institutions. We feel we need seven to ten years in college. We feel we need to invest a lot of money. We feel that only chemicals work. We feel we need jargon. We feel we need complexity. But all that is superfluous.

Health is in our hands. Common sense is within each one of us. If the wild animals can keep themselves healthy why can't we? Health is normal. Sickness is unnatural. We have a body and mind, we have society, and we had a natural environment that provided the inputs. A knowledgeable family was the support system. It was the British and their idea of public health that decimated it. The WHO buried hopes of recovery.

I used to attend medical conferences when invited. I had sincerely hoped I would learn something. But I found them totally empty as they do not discuss health at all. Health and treatment are two different things. It is when you fail to maintain health, and you cannot recover on your own, that you need treatment. It is the last resort. And that treatment should lead to cures. The commercial conferences are another story.

I have left many a medical group because the members squirm when I start talking about health. Integrated medicine groups are better. There are many who, if not immersed in health, are frankly discussing the threats to health and stepping on subjects considered taboo. The menace is recognized and that is good. They need to know the nature of the threats because the first thing they need to undertake is detoxification.

It is only in non medical health groups that all dimensions of health are discussed. The people in these groups do not have degrees but they have considerable knowledge on health and recovery. The knowledge is diverse as health is an individual need. Each person is different. In Covid times we have witnessed MD's joining these groups and adding to the knowledge base. Doctors like Thomas Cowan, Andrew Kauffman and others have contributed a lot as they have delved into the spirit of health.

Many experts and professionals are in such groups because of personal stories. It is sad that personal tragedies need to happen for people to start thinking about health. That club includes me.

Naturopaths are the best as they have the full scope and going through their articles and discussions is very fulfilling. However the amount of toxicity and mismanagement that has happened has queered the pitch. You cannot expect people burdened with extremely toxic bodies and minds and multiple complexities to think about anything else except the world of technical wizardry. I escaped somewhat because I studied on my own and steered my own path.

Capitalism can step in only if there is scope for business. If the intent is health and the outcome is health, capitalism is automatically shown the door. We have to work towards it.

A medical degree is a burden. A full time medical occupation is a burden. We need volunteerism in this sector, sensitive and well meaning people with a keen interest on health working selflessly towards the welfare of the others.

We used to see that spirit in tribal communities. But thanks to "public health" the tribal population is at par with the others. Burdened with the rising rates of chronic disease they are losing their heritage and are at the mercy of the system.

Health can be achieved if all interventions are evaluated on the basis of individual health needs. It sounds complex in this age of protocols and standardization but it is exactly that approach that needs to be discarded. Drug delivery has overshadowed everything. There should be an effort to redesign the system.