Some MPs have shown intent to revive the push for use of herbal medicine in modern treatment.

This is after they attended an Indian High Commission hosted event to celebrate the founder of Ayurveda, an alternative medicine system.

Aldai MP Marianne Kittany (right) and her Kiambu Town and Imenti North counterparts, Machua Waithaka and Rahim Dawood, have pledged to raise the profile of herbal medicine by calling for its incorporation into modern treatment.

Indian community

The three were attending last Sunday’s seventh National Ayurveda Day celebrations at the Apa Pant Auditorium, High Commission of India Residential Complex in Highridge, Nairobi.

The event was celebrated by the Indian community across the world, ahead of Diwali.

The theme for this year’s celebrations is ‘Har Din Har Ghar Ayurveda’’ which means ‘Ayurveda, Every Day, Every Home’.

“As a country, we have practiced herbal medicine, and from what the traditional medicine experts from India have been teaching this morning, we as Kenyans need to bring back our herbal medicines,” Kittany said, promising to reignite the debate which ran into headwinds several years ago due to a number of beliefs.

Kittany recollected that a few years back, there were few cases of people going to hospital.

She pointed out that society has changed its way of life in every aspect from “ow we move, the way we eat and even the way we spend our time and at work”.

She plans to take the message down to her constituency through open medical advocacy days, to push for acceptance of traditional medicine.

Waithaka, a beneficiary of Indian traditional medicine, said the government should be committed to embracing diversity when it comes to the health of Kenyans.

“India, the place we are always running to for medication, is now embracing traditional medicine. Even as the government is keen on Universal Healthcare Coverage, let’s embrace preventive rather than curative medicine and herbal solutions will be important,” he said and pledged to hold medical camps to advocate for the return to the use of traditional medicine.