By Navee Chandran
Since arriving in India, the one of the many things that I have learned is that social business concepts and innovations are integrated into almost every sector. As a pre-med Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major I am specifically interested the intersection between medicine and social entrepreneurship. 
One social business that I was able to visit is the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM), which integrates principles of social entrepreneurship into healthcare. SVYM works on different education, socio economic, and health projects, to help improve the quality of life of people at the bottom of the pyramid. This enterprise integrates Western medicine and Ayurveda to provide cost effective and sustainable health outcomes for tribal people in the area. In India, Western medicine is not the only treatment option. Ayurveda, is a traditional Hindu method of healing.
We visited the Ayurveda Center in Kenchanahalli where we were greeted by an Ayurvedic physician. We were told that the basic healing regime in this hospital is to diagnose the patient and initially treat him/her with Western medication, to treat the symptoms and then continue with Ayurvedic medication. The Ayurvedic treatments comes from local herbs grown in the hospital’s garden and are much cheaper. The tribal people are not charged to get any medication or hospitalization fees, but the small, 10 bed hospital generates revenue by charging non-tribal people to obtain treatment. To ensure holistic health this hospital also offers yoga classes beginning with Surya Namaskaram, followed by a one and a half hour yoga session.
At first glance, the principles of Ayurveda and Western medication or allopathic seem to contradict each other. Allopathic uses drugs to treat a disease but Ayurveda uses nature to try to identify the root of the problem in a person’s lifestyle and therefore prevent the disease. Ayurveda stresses the three important elements in the human body; the lungs (wind and space), bile (fire and water) and phlegm (water and earth). The main principle of Ayurveda states that when these three elements in the body are in a balance, the body will be healthy. When these three elements are not in the right proportion, that is when we start falling ill. On the other hand, Western medicine or allopath is the approach of using interventions to treat or suppress symptoms of a disease.
In my opinion, SVYM’s integration is important. This method not only treats a disease but ensures that there is a long term prevention of the relapse of the disease. Allopathic diagnosis is expensive due to the use of high technology equipment and the consultation of expensive specialists. In rural areas like Kenchanahalli where high cost and complicated surgery is not available, Ayurvedic treatment is used to treat the tribal people. This is an innovative idea, in terms of using a holistic method to maintain a healthy body. While allopathic medicine focuses on treating a particular symptom, Ayurveda helps ensure that the disease itself is treated by eliminating the underlying cause. In this sense, Ayurveda and allopathic methods can complement each other.
Not only is this integration innovative, this method helps solve the issues that many health developmental organizations run into: sustainability and cost management. I hope that other organizations will be able to adopt a cost effective method to deliver healthcare solutions to tribal people across the globe.
