Spirituality and medical education in India: Are we ready?

Abstract

• Dear Editor,
  Most Indians tend to have strong religious affiliations. Traditionally, medicine and religion are inseparable, and religious priests are considered to be healers of body and soul. Ayurveda, an Indian system of traditional medicine, makes use of herbal medicines and prayers to heal the person as a whole. The practice of medicine is considered a sacred activity in which God is the ultimate authority on knowledge about life and death.^[1]
  A similar role was assigned to religion in Western societies in the past. With advances in scientific knowledge around the 17^th century, religion fell out of favor as it was considered "unscientific". This led to a division of roles between religious leaders for healing the soul and physicians for healing the body. Interest in spirituality developed, as an alternative to rigid religion, which is considered a sign of social progress. Religiosity and spirituality have the common objective of reaching the "higher power", or God, or something that is "sacred". Spirituality is viewed as an individual quest while religiosity is a group phenomenon with other objectives such as developing an identity, and providing social support and feelings of security.^[2]
  The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized spirituality as an important factor influencing health. Many Western medical universities have included spirituality in their training programs. One deficiency of these programs is that they are not uniform, and most of them do not evaluate their own effectiveness.^[3]  It is inherently difficult to teach and assess spirituality because it is a personal quest which students pursue at different speeds.