Shillong, March 31: The Scotland of the East could soon become the hottest herbal-cure destination in the country after Kerala. Thirty Meghalaya-based practitioners of traditional medicine will exhibit their skills here tomorrow and validate their claims about the medicinal value of certain plants that are abundantly available in the state.
“Practitioners of traditional medicine have accepted the challenge to prove that the best cure to many diseases is natural therapy. We will probably see some of the evidence tomorrow,” Besterwell Kharbuli, a scientist at the North Eastern Biodiversity Research Cell (NEBRC) and convener of the event, said.
The NEBRC and the state-level planning committee have organised the exhibition, to be held at the All Saints Cathedral Hall, under the auspices of the Bangalore-based Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions.
Representatives of well-known local health centres like Nartiang and Jonksha and herbal-medicine practitioners from parts of the West Khasi Hills and the Garo Hills will participate in the exhibition. A few among them claim to have even found a cure for AIDS and other serious ailments.
Some herbal-medicine centres in Meghalaya, such as Doctor John’s Herbal Clinic, are internationally famous for bone-setting procedures. There are several other centres that specialise in gastrointestinal diseases and diabetes.
“The exhibition has been organised to verify the veracity of the claims made by practitioners of traditional medicine. If these are found to be true, we can begin promoting our local health traditions,” Kharbuli said.
At least 90 per cent of villagers in Meghalaya are still dependent on traditional medicine, but it remains an unorganised sector.
Kharbuli said the Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions was keen to preserve the indigenous art of healing and traditional knowledge of Meghalaya. “The major hurdles in the way of codification of traditional knowledge have been removed,” he added.
Chief conservator of forests Tony C. Marak stressed the need for sustainable use of medicinal plants. “The only problem in documenting medicinal plants is the secretive nature of practitioners of traditional medicine. They are loath to disclosing which plants have medicinal properties,” he said.
Donkupar Syiem, a scientist at the North East Hill University, echoed Marak. “We need to document traditional knowledge. It is a treasure we must protect by all means.”
Lynniang (potentila fulgens), a medicinal plant that is said to have properties that can combat certain types of cancer and diabetes, will be on display at the exhibition.