MTNL Perfect Health Mela from 23rd October

Addressing a press conference, Padma Shri and Dr. B C Roy National Awardee, Dr K K Aggarwal, President Heart Care Foundation of India said that the 20^th MTNL Perfect Health Mela scheduled to be held at Constitution Club of India, New Delhi will be a perfect health picnic spot for the general public. 

 Co-addressing the Press Conference Mr GP Sinha GM (Mktg) MTNL; Sh Vinod Kumar, GM Operation MTNL Delhi, Dr NK Yadav, MHO, South Delhi, Medical Corporation; Dr. PK Sharma, MOH, NDMC; Dr NV Kamat, Director, Health Services, Delhi; and Sr representatives from Central Bank of India said that people should visit in large numbers and treat the day as a Health Picnic Day.  Schools should also send their students to Perfect Health Mela under their annual picnic scheme. 

Mr Shankar Sahni star attraction of the day said that entertainment evenings at the venue will either focus on health or will be intercept with healthy practices.

The Mela will be a unique combination of competitions, entertainment, check-ups, workshops and practical demonstration using infotainment modules under one room.  The Mela will create awareness about all aspects of health for the public from all walks of life incorporating all pathies using low cost infotainment modules. 

The Mela is being organized by the Heart Care Foundation of India in association with MTNL, LIC, Central Bank of India, GAIL, and many Departments of Central and Delhi Government.  There will be more than 30 stalls of the Dept. of COHAND under the Ministry of Textiles for people to do their Diwali shopping.

Being a festive season, there will be special arrangements for training and workshops for the public on how to diagnose adulteration of food at home.

There will be a special workshop on clarifying myths behind magic and miracles.  There will be also be an opportunity for the general public to have interactions with doctors from all systems of medicine i.e. Allopathy, Ayurveda, Unani, Homoeopathy, Naturopathy and Yoga under one roof and get preventive diagnostic care.  There will be sessions where doctors from all systems of medicine will sit together and diagnose.

Special arrangements will be made to create awareness about financial health by LIC and Central Bank of India.  A special emphasis will be on how to manage finance when there is a financial need during medical treatment.  There will be special workshop on Reverse Mortgage where a person above the age of 60 can mortgage his or her property and get money in installments for which he has to pay nothing till he or she dies.

With the continuing dengue problem in the city, there will be special arrangements for educating public on how to identify and tackle dengue mosquito.  There will be special OPDs for dengue patients and treatment under all pathies. 

The Mela will also have a seminar where spiritual gurus will sit together and discuss on spiritual communication and life after death. 

Entry to the Mela for the general public will be free and every person visiting the Mela will be provided with training on how to revive a person after sudden cardiac death. 

There will be special seminar on Allopathy, Homoeopathy, Ayurveda, Naturopathy, Yoga and Unani cardiology for doctors from all pathies. 

Definition of Health

Health is not mere absence of disease; it is a state of physical, mental, social, spiritual, environmental and financial well being. All aspects of health are not defined in allopathy.

During MBBS, medical students are taught more about the physical health. Social and mental health are covered only in few lectures. Community health is a separate subject but never given its due importance. Spiritual health is not defined at all and financial health is hardly covered.

Yet, in day today practice it is the social, financial, spiritual and community health which is the most important during patient-doctor communication. It is incorporated in the four basic purposes: dharma, artha, kama and moksha.

 Dharma and artha together forms the basis of karma which righteous earning. You are what your deep rooted desires are. Most of the diseases today can be traced to a particular emotion, positive or negative. Anger and jealously are related with heart attack, fear with blood pressure, greed & possessiveness with heart failure. Unless the mind is healthy, one cannot be free of diseases. 

The best description of health comes from Ayurveda. In Sanskrit health means swasthya, which means establishment in the self. One is established in the self when there is a union of mind, body and soul. Most symbols of health are established around a shaft with two snakes and two wings. The shaft represents the body, two snakes represent the duality of mind and the two wings represent the freedom of soul. 

Sushrut Samhita in Chapter 15 shloka 10 defines the ayurvedic person as under:

Samadosha, samagnischa,

Samadhatumalkriyah,

Prasannatmendriyamanah,

Swastha iti abhidhiyate.

From ayurvedic point of view for a person to be healthy must have balanced doshas, balanced agni, balanced dhatus, normal functioning of malkriyas and mind, body, spirit and indriyas full of bliss and happiness.

Human body is made up of structures (Kapha) which have two basic functions to perform; firstly, metabolism (pitta) and movement (vata). Vata, pitta and kapha are called doshas in ayurveda. Samana dosha means balance of structures, metabolism and movement functions in the body. Agni in Ayurveda is said to be in balance when a person has normal tejas and a good appetite.

Ayurveda describes seven dhatus: rasa, rakta, mamsa, medha, asthi,majja, shukra and they are required to be in balance. They are equivalent to various tissues in the human body. 

Ayurveda necessitates proper functioning of natural urges like urination, stool, sweating and breathing and that is what balances in malakriya means.

Ayurveda says for a person to be healthy he has to be mentally and spiritually healthy which will only happen when his or her indriyas are cheerful, full of bliss and devoid of any negativities. For indriyas to be in balance one has to learn to control over the lust cum desires, greed and ego. This can be done by learning regular pranayama, learning the do’s and don’ts in life, living in a disciplined atmosphere and learn to live in the present.

Regular pranayama shifts one from sympathetic to para sympathetic mode, balances the mind and thoughts and helps in removing negative thoughts from the mind. For living a disabled life one can follow the yama and niyama of yoga sutras of patanjali or do’s and don’ts taught by various religious gurus, leaders and principles of naturopathy. Living in the present means conscious or meditative living. This involves either learning meditation 20 minutes twice a day or learning subtle mental exercises like mind-body relaxation, yogic shavasana, self-hypnotic exercises, etc.

According to Yoga Sutras of Patanjali a person who eats thrice a day is a rogi, twice a day is a bhogi and once a day is yogi. The take home message is: to live more one has to eat less. 

Swar yoga defines the importance of respiration and longevity. According to this yoga shastra, everybody has a fixed number of breaths to be taken during the life span. Lesser the number a person takes in a minute more is the life. It also forms the basis of pranayama which is nothing but longer and deeper breathing with reduced respiratory rate. To be healthy one can remember to follow the principle of moderation and variety in diet & exercise, regular pranayama & meditation and positive thinking.