Modern medicine has made great strides in recent years. It is scientific and based on continual research and experiment. Surgery, in particular, has made an amazing advance. Thousands of doctors are being trained every year in India, and hundreds of hospitals set up. People living in cities rely mainly on modern medicine.
In the past whenever there was an outbreak of plague or cholera people died by the hundreds. Modern medicine has succeeded in preventing the outbreak of epidemics, or in reducing the heavy toll taken by them. Again, modern medicine cures a disease quickly, while the traditional system usually demands a longer treatment. Another difference between the two systems of medicine is that while the modern doctors are trained and qualified, there are many quacks among the practitioners of the traditional system.
It must be admitted that some simple traditional methods of treating ailments are very effective. Powdered cow dung, for example, has medicinal value, and can cure nose – bleeding. Traditional methods have proved more effective in the treatment of certain ailments like chronic cough and jaundice. In thousands of remote villages in India where there are no hospitals and qualified doctors, traditional methods alone can serve the sick and the diseased. Besides, they are cheap and can be easily afforded by the poor.
Difficult Words: Traditional – customary, passed on from father to son. Declined – slowly lost strength or power, strides – long steps, toll – cost in life, ailment – sickness, chronic – going on for a long time, jaundice – yellowness of the skin caused by illness.