Global Health Symposium April 26 – Daily Recap: The Community Visits Begin!
Yesterday morning, Global Health students woke up bright and early to make their first rounds of community visits! We interviewed two students, Suman Virdee & Missy Bochnowicz about their experiences.
Traditional Health Visits: A Reflection with Suman Virdee
Tell us about your site visit! What were some of your observations?
We went to the SDM College Udyavar for our first field orientation. It’s a college specializing in Ayurvedic medicine, with a research centre, an Ayurvedic hospital and an Ayurvedic medicine factory. The college also had 7 acres of traditional medicine herbs and plants on its grounds!
What did you learn?
Our group learned about the research being done on Ayurvedic therapies, as well as how the college’s research centre aims to preserve traditional health practices that are used in the surrounding communities. These practices, known as folklore medicine, may not directly be Ayurvedic practices, but are still of interest to the research centre for cultural preservation. In addition to the research centre, we visited the factory where the Ayurvedic medicines are made, and were lucky enough to get a tour of the entire plant. We saw how raw materials are fully processed to become ingestible medicines and how these are then checked for quality control purposes. After this, we visited the Ayurvedic hospital on campus to see the facilities used for treatment, and had the chance to meet with the amazing staff to get a brief history of the philosophy of Ayurveda and the hospital itself.
What surprised you?
It was surprising to see a fully-functioning medicine factory on the college campus! In addition to the research laboratories and the busy hospital, the factory was a high-output production and that was unexpected. That being said, the surprise of finding out how much the college does on a daily basis made it an excellent first field visit site!
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