About Unani System of Medicine
INTRODUCTION:
The Unani System of Medicine, as its name suggests, originated in Yūnān - ancient Greece. The Greeks had adopted the initial concepts of Medicine (Ṭibb) from Egypt and Mesopotamia and systematized them. Thereafter, the Romans further advanced these concepts. In the Middle Ages, Medicine traveled to the Arab world, Central Asian countries, and parts of Europe, where it was developed to great heights. In India, the Unani System of Medicine came from Arab and Iran, and flourished tremendously and found here its permanent home. Today, India is the world leader in Unani System of Medicine with the increasing support and funds from the Government of India. The Government of India accorded great importance to the multifaceted development of the Unani System of Medicine as well as other Indian systems of medicine to make their best use in the healthcare delivery system. As a result, education, research, and healthcare in Unani System of Medicine have been developed considerably in the country during the last six decades. Unani System of Medicine forms an integral part of national healthcare delivery structure and owing to the global resurgence of interest in this traditional but time-tested system of medicine, India is making concerted efforts to validate its strengths in scientific parlance and promote the system for global healthcare. The historical background and branches of Unani medicines are given in the flowchart aside.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF UNANI MEDICINE
The remarkable Holism of Unani System of Medicine arises from giving primacy to the Temperament of man and drug, which unlike the molecular level, is simple and can be known as a whole. Its ease of practice arises from the fact that it uses only a few parameters i.e. the primary qualities (Kayfiyāt) of Hot: Cold & Dry: Wet to describe the temperament of both man and drug. Its precision and reproducibility arise from the principle of clinical testing of the drugs hypothesized by Temperament, before accepting them. This clinical testing also reveals effects which cannot be deduced from the temperament or basic qualities of the drug.
The basic principles comprise of: