As children, the moment one of us had a cold or a sniffle, our mothers would run to grab Tulsi and turmeric water for us. It was not only medicine but also love and comfort that had existed for many generations. This blend of practices makes up medical pluralism, where traditional remedies merge with modern healthcare.
Secure medical pluralism thus defines the Nepali healthcare system, where both the traditional and modern systems of medicine coexist. Biomedicine, Ayurveda, dhami-jhakri, lamas, baidyas, shamans, and herbalists have all played equally important roles in the lives of different communities. Most rural communities still use traditional healing techniques, even as modern practices become more popular in urban areas.
Traditional healers remain a popular resource for many rural folks when it comes to treating diseases. These healers are not mere clinicians but philosophers who are held in high esteem by their society, keepers of traditions that have been passed down through generations.
These healers use over 200 different kinds of natural herbs and products to treat over 300 diseases, whether through prayer, chanting, or herb consumption. They cover a wide range of conditions, from more manageable childhood illnesses like respiratory infections and diarrhoea to more complicated ones like infertility, pneumonia, and even psychological disorders.
Why people still turn to tradition
Nevertheless, any history of Nepal’s development after the 1950s tends to depict this division in terms of “modern” and “traditional” given the important roles these physicians and healers play. As part of the post-Rana oligarchy’s modernisation, Western healthcare was viewed as advancing while conventional practices were viewed as outdated. Due to this perception, traditional healers now face greater social rejection, financial hardship, and a decline in societal trust.
As part of the post-Rana oligarchy's modernisation, Western healthcare was viewed as advancing while conventional practices were viewed as outdated. However, the importance of traditional health extends beyond medical remedies. Such rituals are intense and enable members to address their pain, hopelessness, and the challenges of life. Faith healers such as lamas, dhami-jhankris, or spiritual healers use these cultural therapeutic practices to give people a sense of who they are.
“While researching traditional healing practices across Nepal, we observed that many of these methods hold significant cultural and psychological value. Faith may not cure conditions like depression, but it can offer psychological support that many individuals find meaningful,” says Dr Rishav Koirala, Executive Director of the Brain and Neuroscience Centre, Nepal.
It is a fellowship of people who congregate to discuss remedies, hear the Word of God and the testimony of others, and relate instances of pain and recovery. While modern medicine may cure the physical condition of a person, traditional practices find the root of the problem to have an emotional or spiritual origin.
Performing these rituals also serves a definite social purpose: it gives communities that are dealing with poverty, trauma, and social exclusion from their past a chance to “let go” and find emotional relief. Despite enhanced medical amenities in the present era, communities in Nepal still run to their traditional healers in search of an explanation of not only how they are sick but also why they deserve the suffering.
Future for health and healing
As medicine gradually moves from traditionalism to modernism and from ruralism to urbanism, it’s time we embraced medical pluralism in its purest form. This entails recognising the logic of traditional healing methods and creating laws that support them rather than discourage them.
There have been attempts in the past to train traditional healers to help build connections between these communities and health policies, yet there is still a failure to fully accept traditional healers as reasonable beings who can and do perform important functions in society.
“Faith may not cure conditions like depression, but it can offer psychological support that many individuals find meaningful.”In this regard, creating a more responsive healthcare system requires all policymakers and health professionals to acknowledge these practices beyond a mere gesture. They need to interact with the indigenous doctors in a manner that recognises their history, culture, and significance in society.
Nepal can integrate the best aspects of both cultures and create a healthcare delivery system that incorporates both modernity and the culture of the country. Medical pluralism is more than just an assortment of healing methods. According to this philosophy, health encompasses not only physical well-being but also emotional, social, and spiritual aspects.
In a world increasingly dominated by technology and modern medicine, it reminds us that sometimes, a cup of Tulsi tea and a bit of faith are just as important as any prescription.
Pratikshya Bhatta is a junior editor with Nepal Connect.
