The Siddha System of Medicine emphasises that medical treatment is oriented not merely to disease but has to take into account the patient, environment, the meteorological consideration, age, sex, race, habits, mental frame, habitat, diet, appetite, physical condition, physiological constitution etc. This means the treatment has to be individualistic, which ensures that mistakes in diagnosis or treatment are minimal.
The Siddha System also deals with the problems
affecting the women’s health and a lot of formulations are
available in the Siddha classics which can counter the
problems for a better living. The care for women’s health starts from the first day
of the girl child. The
Siddha System strongly advocates breast feeding upto the first
three months of the life. The Siddha System believes in the principle of “Food
itself is medicine” and during this nursing period,
lactating mothers are advised to take the food rich in iron, protein and fibre so as to prevent any
nutritional disorders both to the child as well as the
mothers. Once in
15 days, the mothers are advised to take simple remedies for
de -worming so that they
may not land up in anaemic conditions.
For any diseases due to infection or otherwise, the treatment is individualistic on examination of that particular patient. Once the girl child attained menarche, the Siddha System has got a variety of preparations which can strengthen her reproductive system so as to deliver a healthy child in future. And also, effective treatments are available to take care of the menopausal syndromes, especially problems related to the hormonal imbalance.
The Siddha System is effective in treating chronic cases of liver, skin diseases especially “Psoriasis”, rheumatic problems, anaemia, prostate enlargement, bleeding piles and peptic ulcer. The Siddha Medicines which contains mercury, silver, arsenic, lead and sulphur have been found to be effective in treating certain infectious diseases including venereal diseases. Practitioners have claimed that Siddha medicines are effective in reducing the highly debilitating problems that manifest themselves among patients of HIV/AIDS. More research into the efficacy of these medicines is presently in progress.